How Jane Wade Is Transforming Office Fashion
The number one question Jane Wade gets asked: Why is work her main inspiration when, for most, those two words don't appear in the same sentence? 'What it really is for me is studying the categories of workwear,' Wade says during a visit to her Brooklyn studio and showroom, where a floor-to-ceiling vision board of fabric swatches, show notes, and casting photos from her fall 2025 show takes up an entire wall. 'It's so fascinating to study garments from a lens of 'Whatever your job is, your clothing is there to support you.''
Office culture is at once under scrutiny and on a pedestal, and the generation entering the white-collar workforce five years post-lockdown has a complicated relationship with career and identity. Wade has built her brand around a slightly retro fantasy of work, shining light on the details of office wear that might go unnoticed in the daily hustle. Her past four collections—The Commute, Out of Office, The Audit, and The Merger—all have heavy workwear motifs, whether it's a twisted take on a button-up shirt or cargo pants turned into a maxiskirt. 'Businesswoman special' might be the overall aesthetic, but a closer look shows just how whimsical the category can be. Her muse is 'the girl who's the daydreamer at the office,' Wade says. 'She's the person that they're like, 'You shouldn't be wearing that today,' but she's like, 'But it's a button-up.'' In the Jane Wade universe, said button-up could be a gown, a bustier, a crop top, or an ultra-twisted creation that, let's just say, the office traditionalists might not appreciate.
Courtesy of Jane Wade
One moment that Wade fans of any persuasion could understand was the finale of her fall 2025 show, where an ultra-bossed-up Lisa Rinna stepped out in a floor-length gray blazer with power shoulders out to the gods, executing a 'hostile takeover.' Such storylines are integral to Wade's brand. Even when it's not blatantly office core, as with her 'Out of Office' collection that explores winter sports gear, the narrative is as important as was the garment construction.
She also has a knack for storytelling through collaborations, linking up with brands from Nike and Salomon to Olipop and Bru Eyewear. 'For this season, Docusign was our perfect nail-on-the-head,' Wade says of partnering with the platform. 'Each party has something unique to offer to the other—[corporations] have to spend marketing dollars somewhere, and it's important to them to be integrated in the communities they want to sell to.' As for future partnerships, Wade has her eyes on some unexpected but completely apt giants: Staples, Bic, Post-It, Carhartt, and more.
As for what's next for Wade, creatively? Hex nuts. That's right. Despite the office talk, the corporate aesthetic, the twists and ironies, what sets Wade apart in a saturated pool of brands is her materials, which could take up a whole feature of their own. She uses thick, technical fabrics, delicate but durable knitwear, and strategically placed snaps, zippers, and buttons for convertible silhouettes. And, true to her ethos, she also employs literal hardware to create metallic pieces that are art and armor at the same time. Before I left her studio, Wade brought over a 2' x 2' swatch of her latest experiment, crafted via a technique that mixes metal components—literal hex nuts—with more delicate fabric like silk. It was a weighty swatch and clearly a work-in-progress, but just like the brand itself, I can't wait to see what comes of it.
Jane Wade Fall/Winter 2025
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A version of this story appears in the Summer 2025 issue of ELLE.
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