We all have that one friend who, driven to madness by the sound of their Slack notifications, quits their office job to pull a Cheryl Strayed and hike the PCT. This season, Jane Wade took us along on that ride. The designer’s perennial fascination with corporate culture collides with her Pacific Northwest upbringing to create the corp-GORP hybrid that only she could dream up.
“‘The Summit’ is this modern monument, a hero’s journey of a woman wanting to escape this corporate machine era,” Wade said backstage at the Williamsburg warehouse that she transformed into a mossy, tree-lined runway. “She’s gone out onto the trail and all of these characters that she meets along the way become these unexpected guides on her journey.” Some of those characters include the ski patrol—outfitted in an off-white funnel neck jacket with a nipped-in waist and pockets galore—and mystical creatures whom Wade conveyed through crocheted paracord gowns with impressive headpieces to match.
Wade expanded her vocabulary this season. While she kept her beloved cotton poplin, the designer introduced nylon and paracord into the fold. One lovely surprise was an aqua nylon dress that utilized drawcords both for figure-enhancing cinching and volume, and aesthetic flourishes. Also particularly clever was the nylon corsetry with tentpole boning. But sometimes Wade’s cleverness begets designs that lean on the silly side, like the dress with a tentpole hem.
Wade, still so early in her career, makes remarkable strides every season. With fall 2026, she reminded us that she is a sharp designer with a strong sense of identity. Though it seems almost counterintuitive to restrain oneself, it would be good to see Wade put down the tentpoles and challenge herself to refine, refine, refine.
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