Erin Walsh, Stylist to Selena Gomez and Anne Hathaway, Talks Process

Trained as an actor herself, stylist Erin Walsh knows a thing or two about pre-show jitters — and has built a career using fashion to assuage them.

“I want to make the people I work with feel like their very best selves and to find the supernova version of themselves that they need to tap into to grow their careers and who they are,” said Walsh, the 2026 recipient of WWD’s Red Carpet Style Maker award. She studied acting at New York University before, by her own admission, falling into fashion.

“My first job in fashion was in the fashion department at Vogue, working for Phyllis Posnick. I went out on my own and found this niche,” she said. “Because I was an actor, I so deeply understand the sensibility of actors. My super strength has always been this deep ‘fashion therapist’ quality.”

Indeed, her dynamic with her clientele is long-term, 360-degree and more of a two-way dialogue than directives on what to wear where — and when.

“The pandemic put this in super drive. We were forced to think of new ways to work that wasn’t just carpet-specific and you had to make your own moments,” Walsh said. “Anne Hathaway, in particular, we just found this [commonality], both being moms. For me, something that Annie loved is she deeply understood the power of fashion when it works.”

Of Walsh, client Mindy Kaling said, “First of all, this b—h can dress. Everything Erin wears at a styling fitting, I just wind up buying. Erin doesn’t just style me, she gets me. She knows when to push, she knows when to protect me, and she knows when to say ‘trust me.’ And I always do.

“Erin is responsible for some of the most glamorous moments of my entire life. But what is so remarkable is that I always feel like myself. She doesn’t try to make me look like something else,” Kaling continued.

Another frequent collaborator, Selena Gomez, has found her groove with Walsh as well. “She’s a person who wears her heart on her sleeve, and it’s about seeing that be received in a very powerful way,” Walsh said of Gomez. “The red carpet has never been just about making people look pretty. It should be for all of us to look up to these stars. They’re meant to make it so we can attain that sensibility, that feeling, that vibe for ourselves. I always try to make the aspirational accessible.”

When she first starts working with someone, Walsh begins the process with a client’s preferences and moves from there. “I need to understand what people don’t feel great about: what makes them feel vulnerable, what makes them feel scared, what makes them feel uncomfortable. That’s more macro, and you can get more nitty-gritty on an occasion based on what they’re trying to accomplish.

Ever the actor herself, Walsh also thinks in terms of character development. “It’s also this idea of storytelling and creating a brand of yourself to share with the world so people get a sense of what you’re capable of and your power. That can range from sensuality to anything,” she said. “I use the words ‘supernova’ and ‘superpower’ because, to me, that comes down to alignment and feeling at ease in your own skin, because you also don’t look great if you don’t feel great.”

Some clients love fashion and fittings, and others look for a bit more direction. Walsh’s roster runs the gamut, but in terms of potential collaborators, she believes less is more. “I’m more successful when I try to focus more,” she said. “Especially in fashion, you hear about so much drama and people complaining about what dress they didn’t get, or FedEx being delayed, or what was added to their schedule. I will never be in the business of complaining. Everything is figure-out-able, and those can be a gateway to an even better result or opportunity.”

Case in point, a favorite in Walsh’s repertoire was dressing Hathaway in a white Giorgio Armani gown in 2022. “We shifted that the day before,” Walsh said. “I was with her on the carpet. And you can feel these moments that vibrate at a different intensity, and you could feel something shifting. So many things about that look: the simplicity and elegance of it, all these couture qualities.”

Also among her proudest moments were Gomez in Ralph Lauren at the 2025 Academy Awards, and the Celine gown she wore at the SAG Awards that same year. “She’s an embodiment of somebody whose vulnerability serves as her superpower, and the clothes served that sentiment,” Walsh recalled.

In terms of what’s to come for the 2026 awards season, Walsh thinks the industry is also taking cues from the feel-good factor that’s defined her process. “People are ready for joy,” she said. “What we’re seeing from Matthieu [Blazy] at Chanel, what Jonathan [Anderson] is doing at Dior, obviously Schiaparelli, and what the boys [Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough] are doing at Loewe — there’s gonna be a lot of color and a lot of fun,” she said. “I don’t think that means it has to get fussy; I think it can be intentionally joyful.”

Walsh translated her 20 years of experience — and democratic ethos — into her forthcoming book, “The Art of Intentional Dressing: Your Essential Style Guide for Manifesting a Magnetic Life.” As a part of that, she’s come up with a method for fostering a more empowered relationship with fashion.

“I created a method called the Create Method, and it’s an acronym for clarity, ritual, editing, alignment, truth and expansion. The idea is that every day for the rest of your life, you can learn how to use fashion to transform, reboot, recalibrate and design a life that is in keeping with having your living more in alignment and having your outside not just match your inside, but use what you wear to become the person you want to be,” she said.

Whether as a client or a reader, Walsh wants to dispel the idea that fashion can be intimidating, or insecurity-inducing.

“Whether it was very famous women I worked with, or anyone I would meet that would say, ‘getting dressed makes me feel bad about myself,’ I thought, ‘Isn’t that strange? Shouldn’t it be the thing that fundamentally makes you feel great about yourself and makes you live as your best self?’” she said. “And at this point in my career, it’s like being able to walk in both worlds. I work with these superstars, but now I also feel like I am trying to give these tools to everybody so that more people have access to the superpower that’s in all of us.”