<\/p>\n
\n\tTrained as an actor herself, stylist Erin Walsh knows a thing or two about pre-show jitters \u2014\u00a0and has built a career using fashion to assuage them.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI 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,\u201d said Walsh, the 2026 recipient of WWD\u2019s Red Carpet Style Maker award. She studied acting at New York University before, by her own admission, falling into fashion.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cMy 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,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause I was an actor, I so deeply understand the sensibility of actors. My super strength has always been this deep \u2018fashion therapist\u2019 quality.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIndeed, her dynamic with her clientele is long-term, 360-degree and more of a two-way dialogue than directives on what to wear where \u2014 and when.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe pandemic put this in super drive. We were forced to think of new ways to work that wasn\u2019t just carpet-specific and you had to make your own moments,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cAnne 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tOf Walsh, client Mindy Kaling said, \u201cFirst of all, this b\u2014h can dress. Everything Erin wears at a styling fitting, I just wind up buying. Erin doesn\u2019t just style me, she gets me. She knows when to push, she knows when to protect me, and she knows when to say \u2018trust me.\u2019 And I always do.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cErin 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\u2019t try to make me look like something else,\u201d Kaling continued.<\/p>\n
\n\tAnother frequent collaborator, Selena Gomez, has found her groove with Walsh as well. \u201cShe\u2019s a person who wears her heart on her sleeve, and it\u2019s about seeing that be received in a very powerful way,\u201d Walsh said of Gomez. \u201cThe 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\u2019re meant to make it so we can attain that sensibility, that feeling, that vibe for ourselves. I always try to make the aspirational accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen she first starts working with someone, Walsh begins the process with a client\u2019s preferences and moves from there. \u201cI need to understand what people don\u2019t feel great about: what makes them feel vulnerable, what makes them feel scared, what makes them feel uncomfortable. That\u2019s more macro, and you can get more nitty-gritty on an occasion based on what they\u2019re trying to accomplish.<\/p>\n
\n\tEver the actor herself, Walsh also thinks in terms of character development. \u201cIt\u2019s also this idea of storytelling and creating a brand of yourself to share with the world so people get a sense of what you\u2019re capable of and your power. That can range from sensuality to anything,\u201d she said. \u201cI use the words \u2018supernova\u2019 and \u2018superpower\u2019 because, to me, that comes down to alignment and feeling at ease in your own skin, because you also don\u2019t look great if you don\u2019t feel great.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSome clients love fashion and fittings, and others look for a bit more direction. Walsh\u2019s roster runs the gamut, but in terms of potential collaborators, she believes less is more. \u201cI\u2019m more successful when I try to focus more,\u201d she said. \u201cEspecially in fashion, you hear about so much drama and people complaining about what dress they didn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCase in point, a favorite in Walsh\u2019s repertoire was dressing Hathaway in a white Giorgio Armani gown in 2022. \u201cWe shifted that the day before,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAlso 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. \u201cShe\u2019s an embodiment of somebody whose vulnerability serves as her superpower, and the clothes served that sentiment,\u201d Walsh recalled.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn terms of what\u2019s to come for the 2026 awards season, Walsh thinks the industry is also taking cues from the feel-good factor that\u2019s defined her process. \u201cPeople are ready for joy,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat we\u2019re 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 \u2014 there\u2019s gonna be a lot of color and a lot of fun,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think that means it has to get fussy; I think it can be intentionally joyful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWalsh translated her 20 years of experience \u2014\u00a0and democratic ethos \u2014\u00a0into her forthcoming book, \u201cThe Art of Intentional Dressing: Your Essential Style Guide for Manifesting a Magnetic Life.\u201d As a part of that, she\u2019s come up with a method for fostering a more empowered relationship with fashion.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI created a method called the Create Method, and it\u2019s 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhether as a client or a reader, Walsh wants to dispel the idea that fashion can be intimidating, or insecurity-inducing. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhether it was very famous women I worked with, or anyone I would meet that would say, \u2018getting dressed makes me feel bad about myself,\u2019 I thought, \u2018Isn\u2019t that strange? Shouldn\u2019t it be the thing that fundamentally makes you feel great about yourself and makes you live as your best self?’\u201d she said. \u201cAnd at this point in my career, it\u2019s 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\u2019s in all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trained as an actor herself, stylist Erin Walsh knows a thing or two about pre-show jitters \u2014\u00a0and has built a career using fashion to assuage them. \u201cI 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,\u201d said Walsh, the 2026 recipient of WWD\u2019s Red Carpet Style Maker award. She studied acting at New York University before, by her own admission, falling into fashion. \u201cMy 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,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause I was an actor, I so deeply understand the sensibility of actors. My super strength has always been this deep \u2018fashion therapist\u2019 quality.\u201d 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 \u2014 and when. \u201cThe pandemic put this in super drive. We were forced to think of new ways to work that wasn\u2019t just carpet-specific and you had to make your own moments,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cAnne 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.\u201d Of Walsh, client Mindy Kaling said, \u201cFirst of all, this b\u2014h can dress. Everything Erin wears at a styling fitting, I just wind up buying. Erin doesn\u2019t just style me, she gets me. She knows when to push, she knows when to protect me, and she knows when to say \u2018trust me.\u2019 And I always do. \u201cErin 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\u2019t try to make me look like something else,\u201d Kaling continued. Another frequent collaborator, Selena Gomez, has found her groove with Walsh as well. \u201cShe\u2019s a person who wears her heart on her sleeve, and it\u2019s about seeing that be received in a very powerful way,\u201d Walsh said …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}