For Stylist Karla Welch, Fashion and Politics Often Go Hand in Hand

If you look through any given best-dressed gallery, odds are you’ll come across one of Karla Welch’s celebrity clients, Olivia Wilde, Tracee Ellis Ross, Karlie Kloss, and most recently soccer phenom Megan Rapinoe among them. Her styling eye is among the best in the business—she’s been named one of the Hollywood Reporter’s most powerful stylists multiple times—but what’s made her one of the most sought-after people in fashion isn’t her canny ability to pair a celebrity with her match-made-in-heaven designer gown. (Though, have you seen Tracee Ellis Ross in literally any Valentino Couture?) It’s how she’s been able to use her platform as a medium to say something bigger. On her Instagram there are just as many red-carpet shots as there are political calls to action. Actually, some days the latter might outnumber the former.

“I’ve always tried to be as active as possible,” the 45-year-old says. “I’m not someone who can really knock on doors or maybe do the work per se—I have a full-on career and a family. And I thought, I can’t just keep talking out about stuff; I have to act. What do people need? Ultimately, what people on the front lines need is money.”

This first clicked when the Los Angeles–based stylist ran a marathon for Adidas with Kloss, and the brand donated to the ACLU on her behalf. When the opportunity to design a collection for Levi’s came up, she knew to ask for something she wanted: to give money to Everytown for Gun Safety. “It was right after Parkland, and I think, collectively, everyone was like, ‘Yep, this is what we’re going to do.’”

Politics is something that is “ingrained” into her work. The 2016 election and campaign cycle “was a catalyst, but it’s always been there,” she says. That’s true of her design and partnerships through xKarla (Welch’s brand), and it rolls over into her styling as well. All of the people she dressed for the 2018 Golden Globes participated in the red-carpet blackout, in solidarity with Time’s Up.

“Of course, I do collaborations to get paid—that’s my job; I have to work. But there’s not a single project I do now with xKarla that doesn’t have a social justice contribution,” she says.

Welch’s styling work is nuanced, and her approach to how she thinks about the red carpet reflects that—especially when thought of in the context of campaigns like #AskHerMore, which encourage journalists on the red carpet to talk to actresses about something besides what they're wearing. “What people don’t really realize about it is that it’s the end of a project for an actor: They auditioned, they’ve been cast, they do the project, and then they promote it,” she says. “It’s a part of the business—and it’s a joyful part of the business. People should ask them more. They’re there to celebrate their projects that they’re being recognized for. I think that there’s room for both. It’s certainly easy to say it’s just a girl in a pretty dress, but that’s so narrow-minded. It’s gotten a lot better. I love designers, and I love bringing their clothes to life with my collaborative clients. It can all live together.”

If you’re working with Karla Welch, it’s pretty much understood that you’re a very cool person with an interesting, curious, and daring sense of style. Her understanding of each individual client’s personality, her ability to match them with like-minded designers, and her creative approach to the craft have made her one of the most in-demand stylists in Hollywood. That means a lot more people want to work with her than she may have time for, which means she’s arrived at that much-discussed, much-anticipated place in a career where you can start saying no. “I still don’t say no enough as I should—my husband is always like, ‘You know you can say no,’” she says. “But we’re also in the business of ‘We’ve got to work.’ For me to take on a new client, I have to just really love their work, the project, their music. There has to be something about them that resonates with me.”

One of the underlying themes of Welch’s work is doing something that’s bigger than yourself. That could mean putting together a red-carpet moment that makes an actress feel understood. It could mean designing a great pair of jeans that gives back to a nonprofit. “Personally I feel, if you’ve got a platform, you have an obligation to get on it a little better,” Welch says.

Originally Appeared on Glamour