Fashion Authorities Analyze the Winter 2024 Trends Women Will Actually Wear

Read any fashion-focused newsletter or dive down a wormhole of TikTok trends, and you’ll find the same declaration over and over again: 2024 was the year women went pantsless. But outside of the fashion industry echo chambers and bar Hailey Bieber’s street style, have you actually seen the no-pants trend out in the wild? When you’re grocery shopping or walking your Goldendoodle, are people wearing Miu Miu’s $6,000 sequined panties and little else?

Likely not. The oft-discussed pantless trend was a prime example of a look that works on the runways and red carpet but has no legs in your everyday way of dressing. But luckily for us laypeople, the Fall/Winter 2024 trends possess much more real-world practicality than micro-sized briefs that are, purportedly, pants.

What you’ll discover below is not your standard runway report. Marie Claire tapped six fashion professionals—from style directors and data analysts to retail consultants and content creators—for the trending items you can realistically wear in the coming months: barrel jeans, a slight escalation of your favorite baggy jeans; barn jackets, a fresh-air alternative to trusty trench coats; and modest Mary Janes and sensible black boots, two fall 2024 shoe trends that are easy to wrap your head around.

Ahead, the fall and winter 2024 trends women will actually wear in the coming months. Items that work in the real world? How exciting!

Barn Jackets

“This is the season that we see the elevated barn jacket trend really crescendo," says Jess Graves, editor of the shopping newsletter The Love List. "While luxury brands have been iterating them for a few seasons now, the trickle-down to mainstream is going to be widespread," she says. Strong options like the long barn jacket from J.Crew's September collection and Alex Mill's in ruby waxed cotton demonstrate Graves's point to a T.

Barrel Jeans

Of all of the fall 2024 denim trends, barrel jeans are the champion silhouette, says founder and author of the shopping newsletter Retail Diary, Sarah Shapiro. “Expect varying fullness across price points and brands and mainstream adoption for barrel-leg jeans. They first felt ‘tricky’ to wear, but consumers are more comfortable with the wide-leg look now that the looser fit has become more accessible," she says.

Burgundy

As far as the fall 2024 color trends go, one single shade is spiking on Molly Rooyakkers's, the data analyst behind Style Analytics's radar: “Burgundy will replace last year's pop-of-red color trend,” she says. Consider a liquid-looking leather jacket or sweet Mary Jane flat in deep oxblood to start.

Boat Shoes

Bring on the boat shoe trend: "I see a comeback of classic boat shoes on the horizon, too," says Graves. "Brands like Old Stone Trade and Bally are issuing cool girl renditions that have the fashion industry in a chokehold, which probably means the wider internet is going to start embracing old-school brands like Sperry again"—starting with perhaps you, dear shopper?

Ladies Who Lunch

In a recent edition of her Self-Checkout newsletter, Marie Claire editor-in-chief Nikki Ogunnaike outlined the fall trends joining the company of her closet. "It seemed like The Swans and the ’60s were a big inspiration for designers this fall," she wrote. "Since my style is decidedly more masculine, I’m going to take the accessories approach to the 'ladies who lunch' trend and sprinkle leather gloves, pearls, and the best slingback heels into my mix.”

Suede Everything

"We're seeing a revived interest in boho, both on the runways with Chloé's and Anna Sui's Fall 2024 shows and an interest in Y2k boho style on the internet," says Rooyakkers. And as a result, suede, the signature material of the free-spirited aesthetic, is surging across all categories.

The must-touch textile is a foremost fall 2024 bag trend—three words: Coach's Brooklyn bag, which you've definitely seen on Bella Hadid and the fashion side of TikTok—and across outerwear. "Suede jackets are going to be a huge in a range of earthy tones, from deep chocolate browns to olive greens," says Anna Newton, fashion content creator and author of The Wardrobe Edit newsletter. "Suede shackets are such great transitional pieces for autumn and, as things cool down, are great to layer under heavier wool coats," Newton adds.

Easy Dressing

"There's so much noise happening in terms of politics and the world, and it will trickle down into how women get dressed this season," says Marie Claire's style director, Sara Holzman. She foresees a continuation of summer's signature "easy dressing" in the coming months, consisting of soothing fabrics, drawstring waists, and organic, uncomplicated shapes uncomplicated. "Fewer neons, less brat green, and more of a downturn toward practical and simple silhouettes that make your life easier," says Holzman.

Riding Boots

It should hardly come as a shock that fall boots are on Rooyakkers's list for the coming weeks. But the data analyst gets specific: "Equestrian-inspired fashion, particularly equestrian boots," she says. All the more interesting is that Rooyakkers cites the riding boots trend as a classic instance of the trend cycle at work. “A number of trends we are seeing emerge for fall 2024 are reflective of fall 2012’s trends," she says, citing nostalgia as an ever-powerful factor.

Animal Print

Fall 2024 invites you to uncage your wild side—or at least allow it to step outside every now and then in a quirky cheetah print ballet flat or reptilian purse. “We’ll see plenty of animal print in rotation again," says Newton, waging bets that this season's go-around will feature "more snake print, over leopard print this time."