If you want to be dressed to kill, first you need to be dressed with skill.
Enter: Stylist Karla Welch, who is the mastermind behind many memorable celebrity fashion moments. Remember when Tracee Ellis Ross commanded the 2018 Emmys with her larger-than-life pink Valentino gown or how Hailey Bieber shut down the 2022 Met Gala with a luxurious white slip dress? And let’s not forget she helped Justin Bieber find his trademark of casual-cool style.
“That’s my secret weapon,” Karla exclusively told E! News while promoting her partnership with MasterClass. “I want my clients to be the best version of themselves. Owning your personal style can help you feel powerful, confident, healthy and happy. It’s a way of telling the world who you are.”
The stylist pointed out that dressing her A-list clients is a collaborative process, one where she’s not the only one teaching them a few fashion lessons. In fact, she revealed she’s learned quite a bit from the “Peaches” singer.
“He is fearless,” Karla shared. “I’ve worked with Justin Bieber for a decade. It’s been the most formative relationship creatively that I’ve ever had.”
She described Justin as someone with “so much confidence” and how he inspired her to not pay attention to the negativity.
“There were those horrible ‘Worst Dressed’ lists and you never wanted to land on them,” she recalled, “but Justin didn’t care.”
And she’s since followed suit when it comes to that outlook, adding, “He never looked back and I get a lot of that from him. I don’t look back either—we’re only looking ahead. There’s so much freedom in that.”
Karla also praised Tracee for her red-carpet risk-taking, noting that she “is one of the most stylish women in the world—she comes from one of the most stylish women in the world with her mother Diana Ross.”
“It’s an amazing collaborative relationship because we both love fashion so much,” she continued. “She breathes fashion.”
For those looking to emulate her celebrity clients’ fearlessness, Karla said it’s not about how much you spend on clothes, but how it makes you feel when you wear them.
“I believe in the power of being well dressed and it doesn’t mean spending a ton of money,” she said. “It’s the energy you give to people. Some people might laugh and say, ‘Oh my god, it’s a dress!’ But it’s more than a dress, it’s how you feel when you put on that dress.”
Put simply, she added, “Even if you say you don’t care, you have that one outfit you put on and it gives you spark—that’s the spark you give to the world.”
As for why Karla is open about revealing her styling tips and tricks? She enjoys helping people find their signature style, while also giving them the tools to break into the industry. In fact, it’s one of the reasons she teamed up with MasterClass.
“I have always felt like maybe I had an inspiring story to share,” she described. “I’ve spent almost 20 years honing a creative process while pushing the boundaries of fashion. Now, I get to teach everyone how to let their individuality shine through their own wardrobe.”
As she perfectly summed it up, “I get to teach everyone how to identify their own personal style, bring it to life and make a statement without saying a word.”
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