Shailene Woodley’s stylist, Karla Welch, has spoken out about the criticism of the actress’ polarising look at the 2026 Emmys, which landed her on many worst-dressed lists following the event.
ICYMI, the Big Little Lies actress — who won Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series for her role in Paradise — wore a bold Balenciaga Haute Couture ensemble on the red carpet. She paired a plunging periwinkle halter top with sequinned wide-leg gold trousers and burgundy leather opera gloves, which low-key gave the energy of a child throwing on a bunch of random items from her mum's closet.
Woodley also had her hair styled in a dramatic centre part with a low ponytail and accessorised with a Venetian glass statement necklace. She had a similar vibe for the afterparty, although she ditched the gloves and wore a graphic concert T-shirt over the top.
Shailene Woodley’s stylist claps back
After copping backlash online for the fault in her outfit, Karla Welch shared a post on Threads hitting back at the “super rude and mean” comments about the look.
“Love or hate something fine, but it’s an opinion, and it can even be a conversation, but being super rude and mean and taking glee from it, well that says a lot more about the mouths it’s coming from,” she wrote.
The post has since received a mixed response, with some people defending Welch and saying the actress looked “amazing”.
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“The whole point of fashion is to play and try new things and be adventurous! Most are too scared to! Most importantly, she looked so happy and at ease, and like she was having so much fun and feeling like the best version of herself!” one fan replied.
Meanwhile, others said Woodley looked “horrendous” and the stylist — who also works with Hannah Einbinder, Olivia Wilde, Kristen Wiig and Sarah Paulson — “fell short”.
“There’s a difference between simply not liking the colour or style and an outfit that doesn’t fit properly because the details weren’t thought through,” another person responded.
“The top needed wider, lower underarm cutouts, and the pants looked like they were almost falling off. When you can clearly see that the outfit doesn’t flatter her body type, how can you let her walk out like this, especially for such an important occasion. This feels like such a huge letdown.”
It just doesn’t make sense. I feel like I am seeing 3 different outfits combined as 1 and it looks sooo wrong and weird 🤷♀️
— keltban (@keltban) September 15, 2026
Easily one of the worst red carpet looks I’ve ever seen. Yikes.
— Anna (@AnnaLibri) September 15, 2026
Woodley’s outfit isn’t the only thing that’s landed her in the headlines recently, as her ex-fiancé Aaron Rodgers made pointed remarks about her on a recent podcast.
“I propose, and she says yes. She maybe felt like she was forced to make a decision. She could have said no,” he said on the Not Just Football podcast, before alleging, “But not a couple days after that, she tells me, you know, ‘Before we get married, I got to go f**k this guy’”.
Oop. Anyways, congrats on the Emmy queen!
