Wiederhoeft Spring 2025 Ready-to-Wear Collection

Jackson Wiederhoeft is always generous with his ideas. At his shows, notes left on the seats carefully detail the inspiration for each season and have even been known to provide reading recommendations. This season there was nothing. “It’s funny because the collection is actually called Manifesto,” the designer said backstage after the show. “I had spent all summer writing a manifesto because this is our five-year anniversary and I wanted to make a statement about who we are as a brand.” In the end he decided to let the clothes do the talking, and boy, did they have things to say.

The show opened with the sounds of the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, a bird that went extinct in 1987. “This is the mating call of that bird, who lived for two years singing his song, not knowing that he was the only one,” Wiederhoeft explained. A dancer had been sitting center stage while guests walked in, and she stood up to reveal a white tulle gown embellished with mother-of-pearl seashells that played their own songs as she moved around the room, knocking about four other dancers dressed in black.

Interestingly, Wiederhoeft was not planning on doing a show this season; instead he intended to introduce what he called his “corset program,” a ready-to-wear version of his popular Wasp corset. It consists of 68 sizes (yes, you read that correctly)—from 00 to 30, which also come in four subsizes each that take into consideration height, torso, body type, and cup size. Then sponsorship stepped in. “IMG approached us about a partnership with Capital One and Michelin for doing a show, so the runway ended up being the add-on this season,” he said. Immediately following the show there was a dinner with food from the queer-owned Michelin-recommended restaurant HAGS on the Lower East Side.

Possibly because Wiederhoeft wasn’t planning on doing a show this season, and possibly because he is once again a finalist for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, his spring lineup was an encapsulation of his body of work so far—not a greatest hits but more a reaffirmation of what the brand does best. Corsetry certainly dominated, and his “sweatsuit” corset, covered in heathered gray jersey and worn over a ribbed tank top with rosette detail, and low-slung, wide-leg “sweatpants” with a faux-layered boxer short waistband were highlights. Elsewhere, a short-sleeve mid-length dress was printed with a blown-up photograph of a fence’s shadow reflected onto concrete, and a chocolate-brown dress with contrasting white broderie anglaise trim had an all-over plasticized look (even the lace). A white jacquard suit with black lace appliqué and a skirt made from jacquard until mid-thigh, then black lace to the ground, was Wiederhoeft to a T: very ladylike and totally unexpected.

After the last model exited the runway, 26 women in matching white corsets and satin mermaid skirts, their faces covered in veils, came out. Some were tall, others short; some were curvy, some had very straight bodies. None of them were wearing the same corset size. This was our introduction to Wiederhoeft’s new corset program. “I really wanted it to be about the body—in my natural sense. I mean, you’re manipulating the body, but you know the performers who are wearing it for the first time, they’re like, ‘I can’t believe this is me!’” he said. “With this unembellished corset and white satin skirt, it’s like, ‘I have nothing to hide.’”