Skins not showing up.

So about a year ago, Minecraft started crashing whenever I would try to log on to a server using the new launcher, giving me the "Java has stopped working" message. I tried everything.  I reinstalled MC, and tried at least 20 different methods, and I could not find a fix.  So I decided to go back to the old launcher to see if anything would change.  As soon as I started using the new launcher, I was able to log into servers and play normally, but now no skins are showing up.  Not for NPC's, Players or even player heads. The skin problem seems to be only happening on versions 1.9 and above. When I use version 1.8 then go back to the newer versions, my skin gets fixed for a little bit, but everyone else is still a steve. I have googled the crashing problem with the new launcher, but it seems like no one has a solution for it.  If you guys know what is causing either one of these problems, please let me know.  If something is unclear, please ask me.