Welcome to our podcast, Who What Wear With Hillary Kerr. Think of it as your direct line to the designers, stylists, beauty experts, editors, and tastemakers who are shaping the fashion-and-beauty world. Subscribe to Who What Wear With Hillary Kerr on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
If you were following red carpet fashion news this summer, you’ve definitely seen celebrity stylist and creative director, Erin Walsh’s, work.
At the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, Anne Hathaway made headlines with her showstopping looks—and Walsh is to thank for those.
Walsh began working with Hathaway back in 2019 and has played a part in creating some of her most iconic outfits. From those *chef’s kiss* Cannes looks to Hathaway’s viral all-pink Valentino ensemble, Walsh had her hand in some of the most talked about looks this summer.
Beyond styling some of Hollywood’s leading men and women, like Lana Condor and Kerry Washington, Walsh founded SBJCT: Journal, an activism-oriented creative platform.
Walsh is also an editorial and brand strategist with clients like Neiman Marcus and Cole Haan.
In the latest episode of Who What Wear With Hillary Kerr, Walsh shares how she went from landing a temp job at Vogue to striking out on her own as a stylist.
For some excerpts of their interview, scroll below.
Tell me about your background specifically. Did you always love fashion and style? Or was this something that you came to later in life?
I always loved fashion and style period. I didn’t want to work in fashion, though. I wanted to be an actor. Growing up, I would always dream of outfits and what I was going to wear the next day.
Growing up, I had a very stylish grandmother. My mom was always so stylish. She was a lawyer. It was very much a ritual getting dressed in the morning. Especially for corporate vacations or watching my parents get dressed and go out for things.
I was always fascinated by that. Even later, when I was involved in theater, I was fascinated by the ritual of becoming someone and how clothes let you do that.
I always wanted to be a storyteller. It ended up that I did that through clothes.
What was it like working at Vogue?
I worked for Phyllis Posnick, who was the executive fashion editor. At that time, it was obviously Anna [Wintour], Phyllis and Grace [Coddington] and Tonne [Goodman] were like the three main fashion editors.
Phyllis was much more the editor who had this relationship with certain photographers like Irving Penn or Helmut Newton. She was the one who was working with Irving Penn twice a month and he only would work with her at the end of this time.
We were in his studio like twice a month. Her shoots were usually with a celebrity or more beauty centric. Her job was creating a really specific, beautiful, lasting image.
What did you do next? How did that transition into styling?
I didn’t know what I was going to do. I started looking at openings in PR. I remember one PR person I met with—she didn’t hire me—and she was like, “Erin we just think you’d make a much better editor.”
I started hearing about freelance assisting opportunities with stylists. So that was what I started doing next and I started assisting a variety of super awesome stylists, one of whom ended up being Samira Nasr who know runs Bazaar.
Can you talk to me a little bit about how you started working with Anne Hathaway? Since you’ve worked together for years, how has your process and her style evolved, the longer that you are together?
We started working together when she was pregnant with her second child.
I think certain people resonate stronger in certain times. To me if I had to explain it with her—obviously all this fashion is rocking it and she looks amazing—I think that people resonate when they are truly embodying that best version of themselves. I think right now, she is just there and so people love it.
I love it. It’s so joyful and inspiring to see. I think with her, she happens to be wearing this range of designers and these beautiful clothes. But what you’re seeing is luminescence. That’s what’s exciting and that’s literally the definition of a star.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Next up, check out our previous episode featuring Thakoon Panichgul.