Erin Walsh Isn't Just a Celebrity Stylist—She’s a "Fashion Therapist"

Erin Walsh is the stylist behind memorable red carpet moments from Selena Gomez and Anne Hathaway. But ask her to describe her process, and you’ll find there’s more to it than picking out striking looks.

Walsh joins editor-in-chief Nikki Ogunnaike on the latest episode of "Nice Talk". On the podcast, she explains why she considers herself a "fashion therapist" and how she's putting that title to use for a wider audience in her upcoming book, The Art of Intentional Dressing.

"I didn't want to make a celebrity style book. I didn't want to make a fluffy book about getting dressed and playing with clothes. I wanted to create a movement that would fundamentally shift the way women think about their own possibility and their lives," Walsh says ahead of the book's May 5 release.

The Art of Intentional Dressing delves into Walsh's "create" method. The acronym standing for clarity, ritual, edit, align, truth, expansion—all things that Walsh suggests women think about as they build their wardrobes and get dressed every day.

"I created the method in the book by learning to live this way, and the ways that I had worked with clients for years that I was unconsciously doing," Walsh adds. "I've always considered myself to be a fashion therapist, not just a stylist, because I deeply want to connect with somebody and reveal essential things of themselves that they want to reveal through the clothes."

The best experiences with her clients are “deeply collaborative,”

"It's the process of me trying to unpack what do they need? How can I serve the story they need to tell?" she says. "And for actors that's many different boxes to hit, because it's not just 'How do you want to feel?' It has to do with the roles you're cast in, the career you're making outside of your career, what you're doing. And everybody has different tangents to their careers now."

Speaking specifically about Hathaway—with whom she has worked since 2019—Walsh says their collaboration has become "incredibly intuitive" and "like making music together."

"I always try to operate by setting my ego aside," she says. "If they ask, 'What do I think is best?' Yes, obviously ... But the point should be about the result and how they feel and how they they look."

Hathaway has a huge year ahead with five movies set to premiere, including the highly-anticipated The Devil Wears Prada 2.

Walsh teases fashion lovers with this: "With that movie, specifically, you have to really rise up to the occasion. It should be like a fashion extravaganza."

For more from the stylist—including her tips for editing your own closet—check out this week’s installment of "Nice Talk". The episode is available everywhere you listen to podcasts.