Speaker
Erin Walsh
Appearances over time
1 episodes
Episodes
1
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
The question 'How do I want to feel?' asked before opening your closet is Erin Walsh's core method for intentional dressing.
Erin Walsh recommends identifying three feeling words each morning (e.g., effortless, easy, elegant) to guide every outfit decision.
Erin Walsh notes that most people gravitate to the same small rotation of clothes, which causes them to stop expanding and growing.
Erin Walsh says most people wear clothes that don't fit their proportions, and tailoring — even at the dry cleaner — is the single best way to look more put-together.
Erin Walsh advises going through every item in your closet every three months, trying each piece on to see how it makes you feel.
Erin Walsh argues that when you dress to impress others before asking how you want to feel, you've already decided you're not good enough for the world.
Erin Walsh notes that most women embody eight to nine different identities throughout a day, and clothing should be able to shift and support each of those roles.
Before you open your closet, stop and ask yourself: 'How do I want to feel?' Those six words are the entire method. Starting from how you want to feel — not what looks acceptable — is the difference between dressing from a place of self-worth and dressing from a place of not enough.
Calling fashion 'not for me' doesn't opt you out — you're in the game of being alive and being in the world. The question is whether you're using the tool intentionally or letting it use you.
Most people's closets are full of people they no longer are: the jeans from your twenties, the dress you bought for the person you hoped to become. That's why opening the closet feels like a minefield — it's not your present self looking back at you, it's a gallery of past selves judging you.
Three feeling words each morning — effortless, easy, elegant; or bold, empowered, like a boss — physically changes which clothes you reach for. The words are your filter. Everything that doesn't serve them becomes invisible noise.
Mel was sick, exhausted, and had to tape nine podcast episodes in four days. She asked herself: how do I want to feel? Invincible. Unstoppable. Confident. She pulled on knee-high boots and powered through every single day. Then on Friday she asked again — this time the answer was 'safe, protected, soft' — and she put on old sweatpants and slept for three days. Same method, two completely different results.
Less than a year postpartum, Jessie had swapped clothes that didn't fit for ones two sizes too big. She wasn't honoring her new body — she was hiding from it. Using the six-word question, she put on bootcut jeans, ankle boots, and jewelry for the first time in months. Her words: powerful, beautiful, confident.
When you dress to impress others first, you step on your own words, feel uncomfortable, and stop acting like yourself. But when you start from how you want to feel, your choices align with who you actually are — and that's when the room feels different.
Amy didn't want to produce this episode. She didn't care about fashion. But when she finally tried the method and chose the words creative, empowered, and fun, she went through five blazers that didn't fit, found one that did, and showed up in an electric-blue double-breasted jacket. Her new chapter word? Magical.
Through nine months of cancer treatment, including chemotherapy and losing all her hair, Cindy did her nails, wore lipstick, and put on a pink ski hat to every session. She didn't have the language for it, but she was already practicing intentional dressing — using clothes and color to feel bold even on the hardest days.
We think our sandbox is our whole world — the comfortable zone of tools and friends and habits we know. But look up and you'll see the sandbox is on a beach. We make our own boxes of what's possible without realizing everything else that exists beyond the edge.
When you don't feel at home in your body — postpartum, post-illness, mid-menopause — structure in your clothing creates the feeling of being held and grounded. A small heel. A defined collar. A belt. These aren't trends. They're anchors.
The Art of Intentional Dressing requires no shopping. The starting point is the three pieces in your closet right now that make you feel great. Use those as your uniform, take photos, and build from there. You don't need more clothes. You need a different relationship with the ones you have.
Analysis
What they talk about
- Society & Culture 55%
- Health & Fitness 36%
- Education 9%
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