The 30 Best Fall Dresses to Wear All Season (2024)

As a fashion editor, there’s nothing I love more about autumn than getting to wear my best fall dresses. The withholding nature of a draped cashmere maxi dress or a knife-pleated midi feels so refreshing after a summer full of botanical prints and SPF-required cutouts. The best fall dresses also embrace a dramatic palette—full of burgundy, deep navy, and forest green, along with staple neutrals—that speaks to my Scorpio heart. When it’s time to get dressed, all a dress needs to feel complete are a pair of my best leather boots and a piece of minimalist jewelry. (Of course, maximalists know they can easily pile on more.)

I started gathering 2023’s best fall dresses weeks before the leaves began to change. Really, this list began at Fashion Week in February, when designers shared their vision for the fall we’re experiencing now. I took mental pictures of Ulla Johnson’s orange crushed-velvet slipdress and Proenza Schouler’s lipstick-red strapless leather dress when they came down their respective runways—each one channels typical fall colors into exciting new textures, in the ultimate versions of a fall wedding guest dress. Inspired by the yearlong trend of elevated capsule dressing, I also kept track of neutral sweater dresses and twisted T-shirt dresses from labels from Altuzarra to the Garment: pieces that trade bright prints for rich textures and inventive draping evoking a cozy fall blanket.

There’s an undercurrent of practicality in these fall dresses and the others ahead. After all, they need to withstand dropping temperatures and layer neatly under an oversize coat. But dresses that transition from August to October can still have an element of whimsy and fun, as Jessie Loeffler Randall, creative director of Loeffler Randall, told me. She treats her plaid, puff-sleeve Gillian midi from her current collection as a transitional dress with a simple turtleneck underneath or heat tech longsleeve underneath. “This way I can extend the life of pieces and make them work all year round,” she explained.

Fall dresses are so much more than long sleeves and deep colors; to me, they’re an entire attitude. Ahead, shop the 30 best fall dresses I plan to wear all season. Each one was chosen based on expert recommendations, shopper reviews, runway reporting, and my own extensive testing.

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