Stylist Karla Welch on Being an “Image Architect”

Our next guest is a redoubtable force in the fashion world ranks the most powerful stylist by The Hollywood Reporter.

She is Karla Welsh.

She is the red carpet fairy godmother to today's stars waving her magic wand over Karlie Kloss, Elisabeth Moss, Justin Bieber, Lorde, and many many more.

Her SLAs of fashion threads a political needle too.

Recently collaborating with Levi's to lobby for gun control with Hollywood's awards season just around the corner.

Karla briefly stepped away from the glitz and the glam to chat with our Alicia Menendez.

Karla thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for having me.

You have described your process as alchemy and magic and described your role as an image architect.

What does that mean.

I say alchemy because when I meet a client and I think about where we're going to go together I conjure myself a little bit of a muse.

I don't think OK we're going to Audrey Hepburn today or we're going to do romantic or super feminine.

I just kind of have to internalize it a little bit.

Who this person is and what their role is and what they what their essence is in a way.

So I say it's a little bit of magic because it's really much an internal process for me.

To think about them and then it'll come to me.

We hear stylists and that sounds so glamorous.

What is the actual war.

I'll run through a day like a come in in the morning I probably answer a hundred e-mails.

I work with my team.

We go out to showrooms where the designers have all their clothes you know inL.A.

and New York and then of course Europe as well.

So you're actually working on everybody's clock to get requests in the girls.

Paul.

Paul we lug everything back to the.

I mean we are so strong and fit.

Because we're carrying these huge leg garment bags of stuff and then you know everything come back to my studio.

We'll I'll edit the clothes down and create a rack for like a client.

Sarah Paulson coming in OK.

These are all Sarah looks and then Sarah will come in will do a fitting we have a tailor everything gets tickety boo and then then the next step is them we're like adding the shoes adding the jury packing all the clothes back that we just literally brought in and returning them the mushrooms and then the next day we repeat it.

And so when you have something like a meet the client going out for a campaign or a client going out to promote a movie.

Do you think about how all those looks relate to one another.

100 percent.

It's really like no pun intended a thread.

I want to create like a whole cohesiveness so that at the end if I was to put all 30 images together or how many of its or are it's going to look like we've told the story of that person.

So there's a lot of thought that goes into it for a lot of work.

I think in some ways people think oh you shop for a living.

How exciting.

It's like I could cure you of wanting to be a stylist and one day you have someone like Ruth Negga who was known for her acting but really became a breakout star on the red carpet.

How does that happen.

She has such an incredible presence like she's this petite Irish woman but you'd think she was six feet tall.

She carries herself so amazingly she understands like the power of theatre.

It was the way we met was so interesting because I was googling Cannes Film Festival and I saw the film loving.

I was like Oh my goodness this is obviously an amazing story and I loved the director.

And then the next day I got a text from her publicist was like this girl with negga wants to meet you.

And I was like well.

Yes.

And we met and then we were off and running and it was incredible.

Growing up as a child in Canada you worked in your father's retail store.

What did you learn from that experience.

I think I've learned.

Just.

Hard work customer service how to take care of people like his store was very much where you served the customers.

The idea of service I think very much comes from my dad in his shop.

I think everybody should work in retail.

I mean everybody we're going restaurant.

Your mom is in some ways a bigger influence on your life.

Yeah I mean they both are.

I have.

I'm blessed with wonderful parents wonderful siblings.

I'm feel really fortunate.

My mom was such an amazing nurse and she's a cancer survivor and she's just one of those moms who like I don't know how she did it all.

She was born to be a mom but also as a war kid in five years.

It's a lot and she's really an incredible woman.

I get to think a lot of my moral compass from my mom.

You were interested in fashion when you were younger but then you take this detour and you work in the restaurant business.

What brought you back my husband.

Yeah my husband came into my restaurant in Coover and he fell in love with me and wrote me a love letter.

And I was like Oh OK.

Move down to the states and at that time where I was just kind of learning what a stylist was and he had photo shoots and the person who was styling for him wasn't doing a good job and I was like.

I can do this in a way I think in the styling business.

So many up and coming kids want to be like instantly the stylist.

I'm like you'll have so much more longevity if you find a mentor.

You apprentice with a new intern you learn the skills.

But you know you're there to represent who you're working for rather than just for yourself.

I think that's a skill you can kind of take to any job really.

When you talk about service you service celebrities.

But in doing that you become a celebrity yourself.

Do you see yourself that way.

No not at all.

I mean I'm honored to even be in this position to be.

I'd pinch myself all the time.

I think how this person made me dress like.

It's great.

But you're still there to do the work.

My clients need to shine and I'm happy to support them and obviously I love all my girls.

My one guy.

But that takes a specific personality type doesn't it to be willing to let somebody else shine.

Of course.

So he's like the kite in the string.

Someone's got to hold the string.

To you.

Yeah.

Happily you take that for styling job and it seems as though things snowballed pretty quickly for you.

Do you have a sense of what makes you so good.

Well you know it wasn't overnight.

I did lots of like jobs like Getty Images spex shoots and music jobs and add jobs that were like We need you to also build the floor.

And I was like OK I can do this like I have this one client that they always want me to do the art department.

So I think I tried to like take on as many jobs as I could in the beginning just to learn as much as I could.

And then I did about five years and I got a huge break because brickwall from the wall group.

Followed me one day and signed me.

That was it.

And then I also.

At the beginning I said I will not say no to work.

What did you sacrifice.

I never saying no to work.

Well I sacrificed.

A little bit of my kids life for sure.

Which is you know looking back on it hard like a bit of a pill to swallow.

But I also need it to provide you know in the end will be fine.

I don't I don't overly regret it though.

Because I know she sees me and I know she's actually really proud of me.

For those who believe that America is in a period of crisis it might be easy to look at what you do and say well why does style matter.

Why does it matter in a moment like this.

Well it's separate and you can and you should be political if you're breathing the air.

We all share we're all part of the process and it affects us.

We're all living and being part of the system.

So you should be political.

And I think style can exist because it's a representation of who you are.

You know with my girls.

In a way it's your armor.

That you were open to the world.

There's no greater joy for a lot of the people I know than to put on something they feel AMAZING IN.

How would you describe your politics.

I would say you know maybe it's because I'm Canadian.

I think we should all have health care.

I think we should be safe from guns.

I believe in a woman's right to choose I believe in anybody's right to love anyone.

I just.

But I think.

Am I wrong to think that most people actually feel that way.

I and I believe that we can actually.

Find middle ground with each other.

For you as a feminist even as a mother of a daughter.

Do you have reservations about the narrow scope of images we see coming out of Hollywood of women.

Of course.

But I think if you look at my clientele you can tell I work with people who are well outside of that narrow scope.

You know I don't have a lot of like the tiny hot is.

Blond as sexy as girls but I have like amazing women.

There is a real type that I work with and I'm proud of that.

So I think we're all changing it.

And I think one of the greatest things about social media is how the narrative is being more controlled by people like my clients like me.

And I think I think that's a good thing.

I think the scope's gotten so much bigger.

I think there's so many really interesting.

People coming on.

I think a lot of women are.

Taking the power.

Fully but surely.

You talk a lot about conscious consumerism knowing where you're putting your dollars.

How do you decide where you spend your money.

I tried to go work with brands that I think are really authentic and I think just from being in that landscape and being in the retail world and knowing what's out there I just try to be super duper conscious.

I try to like support young designers of course I worked with major brands that's what's available.

I support these designers who are my friends and her artists but I also like you've put the ban on a few brands that I think are really negative and.

There are some stores I'm not going to shop at because of the way they treat women because they're working Yeah working conditions and how they treat women and you know no one is getting paid well for you and I to wear our blazers like.

We don't need it.

What does it mean to leverage your platform.

For me it means choosing projects that allow me to work with partners that will.

Essentially donate or give money to causes I believe in.

For example the Levi's collaboration 100 percent went to every town for gun safety.

I called.

John say who's the CMO of Levi's.

It's like I think this would be great if you guys would give all the money and all leverage.

All of my talent to come and donate their time.

I will create this amazing campaign that I had this Yoko Ono song in my head and I just was like oh I'm going find out a way to use it.

And I wrote Yoko Ono a letter.

I get weepy because it actually was in New York and I got a call from Levis and they said Levis is going to not only donate the full fund but they're going to make another donation and take a stand for gun control which for a company like Levis is a really big thing.

And then two minutes later we got the s from Yoko Ono.

I was like.

Why is it making you emotional.

Well because I think that's amazing.

Like what.

That's.

Felt very big for me.

That felt like I am living my purpose when I was younger I wanted to join the Peace Corps and they were like no girl you're not a nurse you are have no skills for what we need.

And I remember thinking Oh yeah.

So.

I have my skills now.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.