The Weigh In: Erin Walsh on creating a style that reflects your best self.

Figuring out what to wear can be an emotionally charged experience for any woman. But when your body is constantly changing, stepping into a fit that reflects your best self and feels good on your skin can be a serious struggle — especially when your old wardrobe won’t do. How do you embody style as you’re letting go of the clothes you cherish, and the ones bought for some ‘future’ you? In this episode, celebrity stylist and author Erin Walsh shares her expert insights on navigating the “insecurities and possibilities” that emerge when you face your closet — so that getting dressed is “the most empowering element of your day and even your life.”

Watch the full conversation above, listen in on your preferred podcast platform, or read the highlights below.  

These are the kinds of real, honest questions — and much more about weight, health, and GLP-1s — you’ll find being discussed on The Weigh In, a new weekly podcast from Weight Watchers. It’s hosted by Samhita Mukhopadhyay, a journalist, author, and head of content at Weight Watchers. (As always, this is for education purposes. Talk to your doctor for questions about your health.)

“[Style is] embodying that essence of yourself that is your best self. Everybody knows the story of going to a meeting, or going on a date, or going to an interview when you have [worn] something that is not honoring how you want to feel. It's honoring how you thought you should dress. If you're in a situation where you literally don't feel like you're in your skin, it disempowers you, and it takes you…one step back instead of one step forward. The whole reason that I created…the Create Method, was so that every day you could give yourself back the reins of writing your own story [on] how you present yourself to the world and how you feel.”

“Number one, as women, no matter what size [we] are, our bodies are changing all the time. And society has told us for all of our lives that ‘X size’ is what you should be, and ‘this is what you should look like,’ whether that's your size or your skin color, right? So what happens is, a lot of time, your closet becomes full of all these people that you thought you were supposed to be…and all these roles that you wanted to be, but maybe they didn't feel right, and they didn't fit right. [The closet] becomes a…minefield. And the more and more that you cling to those old [clothes and] identities, the more and more you limit what's possible for yourself to evolve into.”

“We're not ready to grieve that chapter of our lives. For a lot of women [the] pregnancy or postpartum period [is] extremely confronting because…you're literally disembodied and your body makes zero sense at all. So how…would you start adorning or armoring up that body if it feels like someone you don't even want to engage with, and you don't understand anymore? 

[Say] you're a menopausal woman and you have all these dresses from these hot dates you had, and trips you had…and you miss that person, and you still want to be her. [The clothes] become reminders of everything that's not possible. So that's where you gotta get brave and go in there, and with every single piece decide: does this relate at all to the person that I'm becoming and the person that I want to become? Because you can't live in the past. That's not serving your future.”

“I had a late pregnancy loss…and it was horrible…the worst. And I remember after, my mom [said], ‘We're going to get your hair done.’ And I'm like, ‘What are you talking about? I don't wanna…’ And she's like, ‘No, let's go get your hair done.’ And it shifted my mood; and then [she said], ‘We're gonna go out to dinner. Put on, like, a blazer.’ My clothes…weren't fitting properly at that point. [But] going through the motions of choosing [them helped].

How you honor your body and your face and your beauty and your worth affects how you feel… whether that's in a hyperbolic situation like that or a traumatic one, or even on a morning where you just happen to have PMS and…you got in a fight with your husband, or whatever. People are having all kinds of traumas all the time…so learning to honor yourself [through presentation] helps you reboot, recalibrate, [and helps] to bring yourself back into the world. Some days we do need to just be on the couch, and [it’s] okay to honor that, too. But even in the couch situation, what can you put on your body that makes you feel held and calm and supported? Those moments matter, too.”

On how to dress while you’re losing weight

“I  think rentals are great. With things that are too big for you, you can have some of them tailored. And it's also more sustainable, ultimately, and more budget-friendly. Things like denim, though, that's harder. If your size is continually changing, the denim size is going to keep changing pretty quickly… have a lower price point for a bit [for jeans].”

On the impact of GLP-1s on fashion

“I've heard all the arguments over the years about why size inclusivity is sometimes maybe more expensive for brands. Does that mean that different bodies don't deserve the same kind of intention and thought in terms of design? Absolutely not. I  keep reading articles about the GLP-1 conversation, and brands feeling like they don't have to speak to other size women anymore.

In terms of the brands and what they're doing, the actual shape of things they're designing is changing because they have more customers, and so many of their customers don't look at [larger] sizes or need those sizes anymore. So it is shifting — what [brands are] putting out there. I think representation is always of value and importance. It’s a necessity regardless [of whether] more people happen to be weighing less [or not].”

On styling celebrities

“Fittings are such an intensely, uniquely vulnerable situation because the feeling [of] trying something on, and [realizing] it's too small or [that] you don't like how your body looks in it, it's…a trigger. No matter who you are, no matter how famous you are or how kickass of a body you have, [the experience] becomes very triggering. So you need to go back to your baseline of: how do you want to feel? How do you want to be remembered this night? What story are you telling?”

On finding freedom in fashion

“ I don't want people to read [my] book or listen to this podcast and think they have all this homework to do. The goal is to hone and learn to trust your intuition so that when you put something on your body or even when you look at it, you understand your relationship to it and how it makes you feel. Whether you're getting dressed or…doing anything, if you're operating from a place of fear, you're… stopping yourself from going forward. When you come [to fashion] from a place of wonder, and awe, and gratitude for yourself and your body, and…what it can do, and how you can feel, the possibilities expand already…”