Every Corseted Red-Carpet Look You Love Is (Probably) Wiederhoeft

Many designers talk about the “woman” they create for; Jackson Wiederhoeft took a different approach early on in their career, designing from a place of character-based, fantasy-book inspiration. But almost five years into running their eponymous label, they’ve finally found their “woman” — but more like “women” or “anyone bold, brave, and beautiful.”

Their Spring/Summer 2025 collection is still being placed on everybody from Sabrina Carpenter and Ice Spice to Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Cole Escola, and Miley Cyrus, no small feat for an emerging label that doesn’t have the luxury of showing every season. Part of the 23 looks’ critical and commercial success is that they enhance the wearer, Wiederhoeft tells NYLON, especially the masterful corsetry to which the stars, of many shapes and sizes, and their stylists have flocked en masse. But while customers are coming for the cinching tops, they’re staying for the bridal, which Wiederhoeft says accounts for 70 percent of the business.

In continuing to build their two-prong fashion empire, Wiederhoeft will be releasing a bridal look book before returning to New York Fashion Week’s Spring/Summer 2026 season. Before they’re off to the races, though, Wiederhoeft dialed in from their Garment District showroom to talk about their love for corsets, dressing Escola for the Tonys, and the yin-yang of their bridal-fashion business.

Your Spring/Summer 2025 show has been a runaway red-carpet success. What was the response like?

It's been really well-received and did well in wholesale. The approach for that was to make things I felt proud of. Designers are trained to cater to the clientele and try to predict what's going to be commercial, but I'm always wrong about that stuff. All I know how to do is make something I believe is genuinely beautiful, and I think that came through in that collection. If I really believe in it, it'll have its own power.

I think you do understand the commercial side, though. Your corsetry is everywhere, and you’ve shown it can work on many body types. Have you seen an uptick in requests for those styles?

Absolutely. I love a loose dress, but it's not what people are shopping for from us. I've accepted that, and I love making corsets. I feel lucky that the pieces I like making the most are the ones people respond to the most. It's inspired me to think about the collectibility of corsetry, and fabulous seasonal pieces that are one-and-done.

People feel so powerful in the corsetry. I see it all the time in the showroom. People look in the mirror and you can tell they're seeing themselves in a new way. We refer to it as when they “fall into the mirror.” I think the collection has transitioned. I feel like earlier, it was more of a costume designer's approach and character-based, but now I try to amplify people and turn up the volume a bit, rather than change or transform them.

It's a little less out there, but it still is a departure from what people are wearing every day.

I love it. Working in bridal is so fabulous because it’s an important day of people's lives. It’s like when Cole [Escola] came to us for the Tonys. It's such an honor when people are like, “I'm planning the most important day of my life. I need to wear a dress from you.” That's such a compliment, and it's exciting that people are shopping with us for these celebratory moments in their life.

How did the conversation with Cole start?

I had been talking to David [Moses], Cole's stylist, about it. We did the opening-night [look] for Cole, and there was a New York Times feature that ran with the opening, and we also did that. I'm lucky Wiederhoeft became somewhat synonymous in the narrative of Oh, Mary! I wanted to do it for the Tonys, and it was kismet. All parties were down, and it was a celebration of so many things. Cole being in that position at that time felt like such a win, and a chance for everyone to celebrate, even if they didn’t win.

Lady Gaga also wore a billowy dress, which I loved because it’s not what people have come to expect from Wiederhoeft.

I love that Gaga pulled it. My first major placement was on Gaga for her “Stupid Love” video, from my first collection. That presence has been very meaningful. Aside from me being a Little Monster in the younger years, she's always been a champion of small brands. The look she wore that first time was a pink corset with bows and crystals, and it was great to see the evolution of her work and our work synonymously. That look has a built-in corset. You can see it when it's in motion, it's more difficult in a picture. That's why I wanted to open the show with it. It felt very honest to the collection, but also a new iteration.

Going back to the collectability of the pieces, the Champagne corset set — the velvet one Chase Sui Wonders wore — sold out on FWRD. Knowing clients have a $5,000 corset that will stay with them forever speaks to this evolution.

We sold those Champagne corsets to FWRD and The Webster. I think there were seven or eight sets. When you hold the corset in your hand, it feels like when you hold an expensive, beautiful shoe or a purse. I'm really proud of where we've gotten the craftsmanship to on the corsetry. I was at The Webster for sales education and I was like, “This is not fast fashion. It could not be slower fashion.” Each motif in the lace is cut out by hand. We've sold it to a couple bridal clients as well. That's what I love about bridal: The runway sample gets to live in the showroom forever because it can always be a bridal piece. We get to improve the pieces over time and have years-long relationships with these pieces.

Dressing celebrities is a great marketing tool. Do you see it immediately translating to sales, or do you think it promotes brand awareness and then people come to shop?

In the beginning, it is important, but it has to be targeted. I love seeing the clothes out there in the world, but a lot of our collection from September was on the verge of being ready-to-wear or evening-wear and bridal. With ready-to-wear, if a celebrity wears a look, you're probably going to sell it better after that. With bridal, if someone sees a celebrity wearing their bridal piece on the red carpet in a major way, it's going to deter sales. There are several looks that have been requested somewhat daily since last September that have never gone out, because they might be some of our bestselling bridal pieces. The bridal strategy is to underexpose a bit. The different parts of the business need opposing things at times.

They work well together to make the whole brand.

It's like me and my sister: She was student body president, did all the sports, super outgoing. She would head-butt people when she got into fights. I was always the soft-spoken gay one making costumes. We needed very different approaches for how we grew up, but it worked. That's bridal and ready-to-wear at Wiederhoeft. They need different strategies, but the product sometimes overlaps.

All I know how to do is make something I believe is genuinely beautiful.

Is New York always going to be the place you want your brand to be?

I love New York. I have a hard time imagining living somewhere else. There's so much to do here, and there's so much New York can be. I look at Charles James as one of my all-time favorite designers, and also someone who was one of the great American couturiers. I can see living elsewhere, but I think people don't give New York its fair credit. I'm so inspired by New York; I love the people and the attitude. Worldwide domination is the goal, but New York is HQ for me.

Not everyone can say they manufacture and make things in New York.

Honestly, the biggest thing that bummed me out about not doing a show in February was not having those jobs for a season. One fashion show is hundreds of jobs — even a small show — from the makeup artists, the hair people, the PAs on the set. Showing here creates so many jobs and supports New York City and the Garment District, but also local creatives and a lot of young queer people who need jobs. I would love to do a show in Paris one day, of course, but it feels like such a privilege to employ a lot of great people here.