You could be forgiven for thinking you were seeing double when actress Anne Hathaway and her stylist, Erin Walsh, stepped out in near-identical outfits in Venice last week.

The close friends dodged puddles and downpours in the Italian city’s famous piazzas in matching beige trench coats, striped jumpers and sunglasses.

And the pair – recently dubbed ‘fashion’s new double act’ by style bible Vogue – put on a cosy display. They had their arms around each other for much of their stroll, talking intently and taking photographs of the sights. At one point, they held hands.

Oscar-winner Hathaway, 40, was in Venice to attend a glamorous party hosted by jewellery brand Bulgari at the city’s Palazzo Ducale.

There she commanded attention in a delicate gold and silver Versace sequined dress, slashed daringly to the thigh, with a Bulgari necklace featuring large pink gemstones.

Hathaway and her stylist, Erin Walsh – recently dubbed ‘fashion’s new double act’ by style bible Vogue – put on a cosy display in Venice last week

Oscar-winner Hathaway, 40, was in Venice to attend a glamorous party hosted by jewellery brand Bulgari at the city’s Palazzo Ducale

It was a far cry from her role as the long-suffering, badly-dressed fashion magazine assistant she played in the blockbuster 2006 movie The Devil Wears Prada.

Ms Hathaway has noticeably revamped her style in recent years, crediting Ms Walsh for helping her make more daring fashion choices, including a pink Valentino minidress for the Italian house’s runway show last summer, and a rainbow polka-dot trouser suit and bustier for a US talk show appearance in March.

Ms Walsh, who has just been named one of Hollywood’s most powerful stylists, recently began posting TikTok videos about Hathaway’s style.

In one interview about her relationship with the star, Ms Walsh said: ‘We have so much fun with fashion and aren’t afraid to experiment. It’s about achieving that balance of effortless cool without rules – I call it ‘incidentally fabulous’.’

And Hathaway has said of their partnership: ‘I’ve never had this much fun – and it’s supposed to be fun, right? Erin sees my idiosyncrasies as a strength.

‘Maybe there was initial confusion with me because I was introduced to the world as a teenaged princess [in 2001 comedy movie The Princess Diaries], but I never actually connected to things that are “sweet” and “pretty” – no shade at all for those wonderful options. I love the right risk, as does she.’

According to British Vogue, the pair met when the actress was pregnant with her second child, Jack, in 2019.

Hathaway has been married to producer Adam Shulman since 2012.