Another Fashion Week has come and gone and The Daily Aztec is bursting at the seams to share what we learned this time around. Read on as we highlight six of the most important things we took away from New York’s Fall Fashion Week.

Ponchos are stylish?
We have a pretty strong love / hate relationship with ponchos. On the one hand, they’re incredibly cozy and have a super stylish cousin, the cape, which we can’t get enough of. On the other hand, they’re, well, ponchos. Still, we have to admit that when we saw the ones Rag & Bone and Alexander Wang produced, it was fashion love at first sight.

Forget the print, just use the entire animal
We’re not sure if this design feat was encouraged by a couple of too-late nights in the studio and one too many glasses of wine, but we’re digging the owl and fox-adorned dresses Jill Stuart sent down the runway. Important to note, though, we are not advocating the return of your trusty sweatshirt from seventh grade with a tiger’s face emblazoned on it. We repeat: no tiger sweatshirts.

Charity chic
Since 2003, designers have been creating fantastically bold and stylish red dresses for The Heart Truth to raise awareness about women’s heart disease. As in years before, some of Hollywood’s most prominent faces marched down the runway this Fashion Week. We’re all for celebrating a worthy cause and, furthermore, celebrating it in style. Plus, the collaborative effort between some of the fashion industry’s MVPs simply makes our hearts jump.
Cold weather is not synonymous with black
As the weather turns gloomier, so do, it seems, our sartorial choices. But, as Raul Melgoza of Luca Luca and Thakoon Panichgul of Thakoon so kindly reminded us, the atmosphere fall and winter provide is no excuse to shun color. With lively shots of cobalt blue, red and chartreuse shown on models from the above shows, we’re almost ready to admit it: Brights are, like, totally the new black.

Bow ties aren’t just for the guys
Menswear is a trend we’ve been slow to warm up to. We’re all for the notion of gender equality, but shucking glitz, glam and our fluffiest skirts is a traitorous thought for some females. Nevertheless, the bow tie-clad models Jason Wu showcased began to loosen our hold on some of our most unapologetically girly items.

Bloggers peeked out from behind their computers
For the past five years or so, bloggers have become an increasingly valuable source of information to the fashion industry, much to the chagrin of big name magazine’s top editors. While the superpowers behind Vogue and In Style might be scrunching their noses at the transition, smiling 20-somethings are beginning to fill the front-row seats at the shows. Tumblr went so far as to extend a few invites to their burgeoning group of fashion bloggers. And, yes, we are jealous.