We Can Never Have Too Much of Megan Stalter’s Zany, Maximalist Style

Megan Stalter proved herself a star the moment the words “Hi, gay!” left her mouth. She continued to remind us of this as Kayla, the scene-stealing assistant-turned-executive on Hacks—but now, Stalter has the top-billing to prove it. In Netflix’s Too Much, she tackles her most robust role to date as Jessica, an American who flees to London after a bad breakup.

Stalter and her longtime stylist, Kat Typaldos, have never shied away from attention-grabbing dressing. In June, she attended the Critics Choice Association Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema Television in a full-tilt beauty-queen getup—complete with blue eyeshadow, a grocery store bouquet of red roses, and a sash that read “Best Gay Actor.” “It feels really chaotic, but there’s always something that grounded it,” Typaldos tells Vogue of Stalter’s typical fashion direction.

Now, with Too Much, Stalter is using her leading-lady status to reach previously unforeseen levels of camp. On the red carpet, she’s almost always playing a character pulled from her imagination—whether a hot, LA intellectual or a ’90s supermodel. “We didn’t even have a formal conversation about our approach to all this,” Typaldos says. “We’re adding and taking away and building out these characters as we see fit.”

Stalter at the Critics Choice Association Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema Television in June.

Photo: Getty Images

While Typaldos readily acknowledges that Stalter loves a good bit, she adds that the star is “always Meg at the core, which is this sweet, kind, compassionate human being who happens to be super hot, super funny, super talented.”

Last night’s Las Culturistas Culture Awards in Los Angeles proved no exception. For the event, Stalter wore a homemade sweetheart bustier made of Diet Coke boxes—and carried a Diet Coke can in hand, naturally. (“I’m trying to get more work. I’m trying to get a brand deal,” she told Variety.) Her look on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert two days before was just as beautifully bizarre: a shirt bearing a photo of herself in front of an American flag, along with the words: “Meg Stalter Prettiest Girl in America.” (That she was also wearing a knee-length strawberry blonde Hannah Montana-esque wig also deserves a mention.)