VICI Thanksgiving Outfits: Sweater Dresses, Fair Isle Knits and Faux Suede Skirts Under $100

VICI started in 2012, and it started small. Aimee Dudum and her stepmom, Sandy, launched it coming out of the recession, when nobody they knew wanted to spend real money on a going-out top. Aimee told the Honest Ecommerce podcast that nothing on the site today costs more than $150, and that the whole point was never asking a woman to pay $180 for jeans or more than $100 for a top. That rule still shapes everything I like about the brand.

 

The other thing VICI figured out early was the phone. It was a Facebook brand first, then an Instagram brand, then a TikTok brand, posting every day and treating the feed like a catalog rather than an ad. That is why the clothes photograph the way they do: warm light, a porch, a wheel leaned against a stucco wall, a girl laughing at someone off camera. Today Sandra Sayegh Dudum runs it as CEO and you can find the line in about 60 Dillard's stores, which is a lot of reach for a label that still feels like a family group chat.

 

So this is my Thanksgiving edit from them, all under $100. In our fashion dreams, she arrives at her aunt's house with a pie, a knit midi and boots she can actually stand in for six hours.

Start with the sweater dress, because it does the most work for the least thought. The VICI knits in this grid run $74 to $88, and they are built for a long table: ribbed, stretchy, a little heavier than a T-shirt dress so they hang rather than cling. The Inner Circle Striped Knit Maxi is the one I would buy first. Stripes read festive without trying, and a maxi hides the fact that you are wearing fleece-lined tights.

 

The Audrey Striped Long Sleeve Knit Midi is the safer sister, and the Perrine Knit Turtleneck Midi is the one for a family that keeps the thermostat at 64. If you want print, the Rooted Season Paisley Midi Sweater Dress has that old-library-wallpaper feeling that looks right next to a gravy boat. The Danika Ribbed Knit Off The Shoulder Midi is the dinner-at-a-friend's-place option, more Friendsgiving than grandmother.

 

A practical test: sit down in it in the fitting room. A knit that rides up when you sit will ride up all night. Picture her stretching out on the couch for the second half of the game, and still looking put together. What I would skip is the short mini for a sit-down dinner with older relatives. Save the Moonlit Solace Knit Ombre Mini and the Journi Knit Mock Neck Mini for the bar after.

Every Thanksgiving has a walk. Someone suggests it after pie, everyone groans, and then it is the best part of the day. That is what the knitwear in this grid is for. Fair Isle is the pattern people picture when they say holiday sweater, and VICI does it in a soft, slightly cropped way that is more cabin weekend than ugly-sweater party. These run $68 to $78.

 

The Fair Isle cardigans are the most useful pieces in the whole edit. The Willie, the Come Home and the Rosalah all button over a slip dress or a plain tee, and they go straight into January. The Better Moments Fair Isle sweater is the pullover version if you never want to think about buttons. For something cleaner, the Lily Cable Off The Shoulder sweater and the Toasted Whisper Cable both have the chunky rope texture that looks good on camera when someone inevitably takes a family photo.

 

Argyle is the sleeper here. The Macera Argyle and the Sunday Classic Argyle pieces lean preppy, and they are the easiest way to look like you tried in a house full of hoodies. My one rule: pair a patterned knit with a plain bottom, or a plain knit with a patterned bottom. Never both at once, unless you want to look like the tablecloth.

The bottom half is where a fall outfit gets its texture, and VICI is good at texture. This grid runs $58 to $74, which is the price of the parking at some restaurants. Faux suede is the headline: the Cider Sips Faux Suede Mini, the Zuma Faux Suede Mini and the Copper Harvest Faux Suede Mini all come in those toffee and cinnamon shades that match the season, and the Spice Lane Faux Suede Skort is the one for anyone who has to chase a toddler between courses.

 

Plaid is the classic. The Miley Plaid Mini is the short one, and the Coming Together Plaid Maxi is the long one that I would wear with a fitted turtleneck and a loafer. The Sylas Vegan Leather Midi is the polished option, and it is the piece that also works at a work holiday party in three weeks.

 

Then there are the Crowd Pleaser Corduroy Pants, which are exactly what the name promises. Corduroy reads warm, hides crumbs, and looks just as right on the drive home. In our fashion dreams, she wears them with a Fair Isle cardigan, a gold hoop and a very large cup of coffee. What I would skip is a faux suede mini in a dark, damp climate; it is a dry-weather skirt. Otherwise, pick one knit and one bottom and you are dressed for the whole long weekend.