15 Pieces We Found At The Mall That We Cannot WAIT To Wear This Fall
Bury us in every outfit Meg Ryan wore in When Harry Met Sally.
by The Candidly Team
We’re tired of shorts and flowy dresses and flip flops. And we feel as though if we start planning our Autumn outfits now, we are somehow manifesting it to get here faster.
Crisp air. Warm cups. Cozy sweaters. Fall is truly the most elite of all the seasons.
Something else elite? The mall.
We’re tired of disparaging remarks about malls. Malls are good. They’re convenient, they have parking that makes sense, and stores we can predict. They’re like the shopping version of watching the same romcom 47 times—it’s comfortable.
Plus, some of our favorite stores with chic, wearable clothes are in malls. Anthro, Free People, J. Crew—these stores are good! They’re making clothes we want to wear, that don’t fall apart, and that aren’t an avalanche of hideous trends.
And so, we scoured our mall for the most lovely, wearable clothes for fall, that will go with everything else we own and that make us excited to pluck from their hangers each day.
We tend to reach for classics as you’ll see below (though sometimes with a twist), and we’re already dreaming of the many layering opportunities with the 14 fall-mall pieces below.
And here’s a bonus—you don’t even have to set foot in a mall if you don’t want to. Merely a tap will do.
1. Gap High Rise Wide-Leg Trousers
Well you can all go home now. We’ve found the most quintessentially fall trousers in any mall, ever. And from the Gap!?!?! Is the Gap…good again, guys? The size range is amazing, and the fit is sooooo good. Throw these chic, flattering pants on with any of your perfect sweaters, and you will EASILY be the best dressed gal in any room.
Price: $90
2. Free People We The Free Midnight Pullover
This is much more than just a sweatshirt. It’s wildly flattering, perfection on thicker arms, and while it’s slightly billowy around the midsection, it hangs in this tremendously flattering way. It’s our favorite sweatshirt of the season/ all time.
Price: $158
3. Madewell The Curvy Perfect Vintage Jean
We have a…skeptical relationship with Madewell. Their online collection can be excellent, but when we physically walk into their stores, we are often met with one too many shapeless sacks to continue our journey. But we finally bit the bullet, and tried on every single style of jeans they make—mostly because we were sick of hearing about how impeccable their jeans are from everyone we know. Many did not impress. But if you are someone who constantly struggles with a waist gap, please please please believe us when we tell you that their curvy perfect vintage jean will make all your non-gapping dreams come true. Real photo of one of us wearing it for proof!
Price: $128
4. J. Crew Cashmere shrunken crewneck sweater
A black, cashmere, crewneck sweater is one of those Audrey Hepburn essentials that we wake up one day and can’t believe we don’t own. J. Crew makes gorgeous cashmere pieces at excellent prices, and we mostly love that we can wear a white t-shirt, a random pair of jeans, throw this on, and look as chic as her ⤴️⤴️⤴️.
We also love THIS v-neck version, which might currently be in our carts in 4 colors, oops.
Price: $118
5. Anthropologie The Naomi Ponte Wide-Leg Flare Pants by Maeve
Isn’t it the dream to own a single pair of “magic pants” that feel like leggings but with even more stretch and support? These jeans are a miracle for smoothing stomachs without feeling tight. But they also happen to make us look our absolute best whether we’re at work or dressed up for some fancy thing or just want to look extra chic one random day in the coffee line. Well, my friends, these are those pants.
And here they are on one of us.
Oh, and they size in plus, tall, and petite!
Price: $138
6. Madewell The Drumgold Boot Extended Calf
When you find a pair of tall boots this classically gorgeous, but then also find that they glide over your calf without constriction, you scoop them up and wear them forever. Such are the rules of creating a closet full of quality things you deeply love that actually fit.
And if your calves don’t require that extra bit of spaciousness, you can find the original version HERE.
Price: $298
7. By Anthropologie Mesh Twofer Midi Dress
Lest we should forget that fall kicks off the season of having to dress up every other weekend for some spooky soirée or pumpkin-spiced cocktail party, here is the dress that will get you through it all. It just low key happens to be the most flattering little black dress we’ve put on our bodies. The ruching is so flattering and wipes away any ounce of self-consciousness we may feel when putting our entire selves inside a fitted dress.
And we get all scared of strapless, but why?!?! It looks soooo good on arms and works under any jacket, pashmina, or overthing we feel like wearing without any bunching sleeves to worry about underneath.
And here is a real, try-on photo of one of us to prove just how won over we were by this dress.
Price: $148
8. J. Crew Garçon shirt in cotton poplin
We love a good poplin. Crisp. Classic. Perfect. It’s hard to beat J. Crew on their button downs. And while their bricks and mortar mall stores don’t typically have that great of a size range, their online goes up to a 24. Bless.
Price: $98
9. Free People Golden Hour Midi Skirt
We’ve decided a column skirt, boots, and a slouchy, oversized sweater like THIS or THIS will be our 2023 fall uniform. You get form-fitting sleekness from the skirt, but you also have a cozy, sloppy sweater over your rump if tight skirts make you feel too exposed. This skirt is so soft it feels like jammies, and the blessedly wide waistband hides any and all pooches.
Price: $60
10. Free People We The Free Hold Me Close Pullover
If you’re mostly a “jeans and a shirt” kind of girl, this shirt must be in your wardrobe. Free people knows drape! We’ll give them that. This shirt is gorgeous on a rounder tummy, on a thicker arm, and a bigger bust—we wear a tank under it so we don’t feel exposed. It will become one of those shirts you always reach for when it’s clean. It’s just that flattering.
Price: $68
11. Anthropologie The Colette Cropped Wide-Leg Ponte Pants by Maeve
Verrrrry similar to the magic pants from Anthro that we went on and on about above, but with the chicest cropped, sailor(ish) cut that looks great on every body type. Hence these being the best-selling pants on Anthro period.
Price: $120
12. Madewell (Re)sourced Cashmere Crewneck Sweater in Stripe
We went from wearing our favorite marinière all summer, to transitioning to the this classy-lady sweater version of it. Why? Because making subtly French choices is our raison d’être.
Price: $168
13. Free People We The Free Camden Sweatshirt
Yet another incredible cozy creation from FP. That open, wide neck makes it feel like something you’ve owned for 25 years. The cuffs are extra long and make your wrists look deeply elegant. (who knew wrists could be elegant?!), the side skits make it extra flattering, and even though it’s slouchy, it won’t swallow you whole. We’ve been known to do a half tuck into jeans, and we’ve also been known to buy it in every, single color because we LIVE in this sweatshirt once we can see our breath in the mornings.
Price: $78
14. J. Crew Denim trouser
There’s no jean shape that looks better on all body types, straight or curvy. They’re blissfully high-rise and full length, so we look miles long. They’re the perfect fall jean, making all our sweaters, scarves, and boots that much chicer. Plus, they come in tall, petite, and plus, so we can make sure they hit at just the right spot.
Price: $158
15. Abercrombie Flutter Sleeve Satin Maxi Dress
Like the big shebang at the end of every Project Runway “collection”, we leave you with this absolutely perfect dress from our old high school pals, Abercrombie & Fitch. Elegant enough for a fancy wedding, stylish enough for a work event, and chic enough for a dress-up dinner party. Possibly even at your own house. Bottoms up.
Price: $150
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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