Go Behind the Scenes of Meredith Hayden’s PEOPLE Cover Shoot

Meredith Hayden takes a bite of fresh berries on the set of her PEOPLE digital cover shoot, leaning over slightly to avoid dripping on her all-white Max Mara dress. “I’m being careful!” she assures her stylist, Arnold Milfort.

The Wishbone Kitchen star is used to blending her love for food and fashion.

“I’ve evolved into somebody who values clothes that keep up with me,” she says. “So a lot of denim, a lot of cotton T-shirts that can wash really easily. I no longer wear materials that aren’t machine washable, really. And if I do, it’s very specific. I’ll be like, ‘I know I’m not cooking today, so I’ll wear this.'”

For her style on the set of PEOPLE’s 2025 Spring Entertaining issue, “we wanted to tap into Meredith’s roots,” says Milfort. “She started as a chef in the Hamptons and we wanted to play with that evolution of Hamptons classic country-meets-city chic.”

The beige Oscar de la Renta cocktail dress Hayden wore was “a stand out” favorite for Milfort. “When I selected it from the line sheet, I had no idea it was leather,” he says. “It is laser cut, creating the illusion of lace but all done on leather with the vintage inspired A-line swing body.”

Hayden’s makeup, done by artist Taylor Fitzgerald, was “playful and fresh.”

“I used Rhode blush stick in Freckle and lip definer in Balance,” shares Fitzgerald. “For a neutral, shiny, slightly pearly lip, I used my favorite Chanel lipstick in the shade Boy. I also used Maybelline Lash Sensational Firework mascara and Tattoo Studio gel pencil liner buffed out in shade Bold Brown.”

It wouldn’t be a shoot with Hayden without some drool-worthy food. The former private chef made recipes from her upcoming Wishbone Kitchen Cookbook (out May 6). She prepared her Cathead Biscuits with Blueberry Jam and Boozy Blueberry Lemonade with a little help from food stylist Jamie Kimm. (And Hayden’s puppy Poppy joined on set and was always close by to lick up any scraps.)

“Everything was in season and easy to find,” says Kimm, who adds that “this is not always the case” at photo shoots. “The recipes were reliable, easy and more to the point — delicious!”