Fashion, Style, Sixty

August 16, 2019.

In March 2018, fresh on the heels of her Oscar victory, Allison Janney’s star had never been brighter. And thanks to renowned Hollywood stylist Tara Swennen, Allison’s fashion status was also riding the high. For her chilling and human portrayal of Tonya Harding’s abusive mother in 2017’s I, Tonya, she handily swept awards season while also repeatedly topping herself on the red carpet. When she arrived at the film’s December 2017 premiere swathed in a red Rani Zakhem gown boasting a fishtail full of sequin flames, it symbolized not only the lighting of Allison’s career on fire, but the blazing in of a new era for her style game. Other memorable looks to follow included a dazzling black and white Mario Dice gown at the Golden Globes, the sleek drama of a Yanina Couture gunmetal sequin number for the SAG Awards, and a bold, hot pink, form-fitting dress with strategic cutouts by Pamella Roland at the Independent Spirit Awards. Not to mention that history won’t soon forget Allison’s Oscar night perfection in classic red by Reem Acra.

Allison Janney has been my ultimate icon for over two decades, since her 1998 turn in Broadway’s A View From the Bridge. I’ve followed Allison’s work like a hawk, constantly amazed by her ability to reinvent her acting career. From the stage, to television, and film, it seems that whatever Allison Janney touches turns to gold. After seven Emmys and countless other accolades, watching her finally win that coveted Academy Award – in such divine clothing along the way – I was inspired to create @allisonjanneystyle on Instagram. I started posting exact matches for all the fashion pieces Allison had worn throughout her Oscar campaign; I thought she deserved a fan-driven style account like the ones I'd seen for so many other celebrities, including her I, Tonya co-star Margot Robbie. I never imagined that Allison herself would even see my page, much less follow the account or want to interact with me. But that's exactly what happened, and over the past eighteen months, it's been an honor and a privilege getting to personally know Ms. Janney. 

Armed with dining, shopping, and travel recommendations from the lady herself ("Cancel your rental car. I think you should just Uber. Traffic and parking are a nightmare. You must download the app."), I fly from New York City to Los Angeles to visit Allison. She calls me when I get in on Thursday. “Where are you? What are you up to?” I am on Hollywood Boulevard near Gower Street checking out Allison’s star on the Walk of Fame, an honor she received in 2016. Flattered, she nonetheless tells me to get out of there. “I think you should go shopping in Studio City!” 

We agree to meet on Friday at 10am in Toluca Lake, not far from Warner Brothers Studios where Allison needs to be later for work; that night, I will be her guest in the audience as she shoots the second episode of the upcoming seventh season of her hit CBS sitcom, MOM. Allison arrives to meet me five minutes early, looking cool-as-hell in Joie brand cheetah-print pajama-style pants, a black Xirena button down top, long gold chain link necklace, topped with her brown straw Janessa Leoné fedora, and one of her recent pairs of gray-frame Dita glasses. I spot her easily from across the street; though we’d previously met in person back in May, Allison’s towering height strikes me all over again. She’s larger than life, oh-so-effortless, and she gives me a wonderful hug. The cafe we had originally selected turns out to be too noisy, and there on the street corner, Allison has other ideas. “Are your shoes okay for walking? Let’s go down this way a few blocks.” 

Strolling along Riverside Drive with her feels both surreal and totally normal. They say fans shouldn’t meet their idols, but Allison Janney is an exception. She’s everything you’d hope her to be and then some. She is vibrant, warm and open, dynamic and self-deprecating. She’s caring and generous, humble. She doesn’t only want to talk about herself. She wants to know which of her suggestions I took on my first night in L.A.; she asks about my young son. 

As we walk, we also start chatting about Allison’s early style influences. She tells me that as a girl, she loved model and actress Lauren Hutton. “She was definitely my first style icon.” Allison also reminisces about the first expensive designer piece she ever purchased. “When I was growing up back in Dayton, Ohio, I became obsessed with Ralph Lauren. There was this one section at Rike’s Department store in Dayton where I worked selling vinyl handbags…they had a very small designer section. There was a pair of really cool tan-brown plaid Ralph Lauren pants that I coveted. They were four-hundred-something dollars, which at the time…it was the 1970s…so it was really expensive. I bought them, but then I don’t think I hardly ever wore them. I kept putting them on and then I'd be too afraid to wear them, so I'd take them off.”

Allison’s style has been developing ever since her days in Dayton. In 1978 at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, on the very first day of freshman year, she met Allison Mackie in the mess hall. Later that afternoon, Mackie dragged her new friend to a theater department audition for A Streetcar Named Desire; they both got cast. When I speak with Mackie ahead of my trip, she tells me that her best friend dressed like a typical college kid. “Unruly hair, jeans, sneaks, and a button down. But being six feet tall made Allison stand out like the goddess she is. Her style evolved every year due to costumers from plays showing her other options, and eventually film and television introduced her to more and more brilliant looks. It’s funny, though: I think Allison looks better now than she did twenty years ago. She’s grown into her style and elegance. And she has really learned how to keep it simple.”

When we reach Sweetsalt Food Shop, Allison is interested in the wooden green farm table on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. “Oh, I love this! I have to ask them where they got this. I’ve been looking for something like this!” We enter the restaurant and she heads for a seat on the bench along the wall; at Allison’s suggestion, we sit together on the same side of the table so that we can hear one another. It’s the kind of place where you order at the counter and a server brings your meal; Allison insists on being the one to wait in the line and request our food. I ask for the avocado toast and Allison orders two eggs and toast with sausage, plus a Lavender Vanilla Latte. “I just got a traditional ol’ breakfast, didn’t I?” When everything arrives, she seems pleased, proclaiming “this all looks gorgeous!”

We start talking right away about whether there’s an Allison Janney fashion line on the horizon. Though Allison’s first public mention of this idea came only in April 2019 during her interview on the Lunch with Bruce [Bozzi] Sirius XM radio show, Allison has been privately sending the concept out into the ether for a while. “My family and friends, Ilana [Reiss] my assistant, my colleagues at MOM…they all keep wanting me to do my Rancho Jancho line. I talk about it a lot. Everyone calls me ‘Rancho Jancho’.” The nickname is such a thing that it's even etched on Allison’s iPhone case, a custom gift from her niece. 

So, what would the Rancho Jancho line look and feel like? Allison laughingly describes it as, “sort of like ‘Garanimals’ for adults. You know, where nothing matches but everything matches? I want it to be the kind of thing where it feels like pajamas, easy and drape-y and flowy with all mixed patterns. I just don't know whether to have it be high-end or low-end. Maybe middle end? Is it a Target thing? I don’t know. There's some research that I need to do.”
I share with Allison how many women I have connected with on Instagram who seek to emulate her style. They range in age from late twenties to early seventies; Allison’s style has a universal appeal, and I think the notion motivates her. She seems resolute that one day soon, when she has more time, a fashion line will happen. “I imagine you have to take an enormous risk, because you have to take risks for anything amazing to happen, and right now I'm just too busy to do that. But I'm going to start taking some meetings with people who have done it before and see what their process is like. Maybe I’ll do it after MOM ends.”

We pause while Allison looks down at her food. “Do you need salt and pepper? I need salt and pepper.” Rather than impose on the waitress, Allison hops up and walks over to the server station where the condiments are stored; she gets the shakers herself.

When she comes back to our table, I compliment her outfit. Allison won’t take credit. “I have to thank Keli for this.” Keli Daniels (@kelistylecatalyst) is Allison’s energetic and creative new day-to-day personal stylist. Keli is a career working actress with a successful styling business on the side; she and Allison share a close mutual friend, Daniel Datzer. Followers of @allisonjanneystyle may recall the fun video and photos Keli recently posted with Allison after a particularly triumphant early-August shopping spree; she is bringing new life to Allison’s personal wardrobe. 

“Keli is making me step up my game a little. You just feel better and you feel confident when you make an effort to take care of yourself. There was a while there when I just didn't. Maybe I was not feeling good, feeling overwhelmed, having to be swirled up in hair and makeup so much for press…I just stopped wanting to do it. I actually blame the long hours working on The West Wing for why my personal style took a downfall. All I did was go from my house to work at five in the morning, so it didn't matter what I wore. I actually wore pajamas to work.” 

One of Allison’s personal style trademarks is her penchant for hats. “I have about a gazillion hats…SO many that I need to get rid of. You'll have to give me your head size.” Allison suggests that I check this by trying on her Janessa Leoné fedora that she wore to our meet-up; she knows I own the same hat. Allison and I are both scared to pack the hat for travel, even though the brand says it’s safe. “For packing hats, I've been known to just wear two hats on top of one another. When I’m not wearing them, I keep them on top of closets all stacked up on top of each other, it's crazy. And all my baseball caps are in my laundry room. I've got hooks above the window.”

This leads to brief detour during which I ask for a description of Allison’s closet space. “I don’t have a ginormous walk-in closet. That’s the one thing I wish I had. I created a closet in a weird space in my bedroom. It was just a door and a small, long, odd space. On one side, I built all these shoe shelves, so I can put them two-deep. Then the other side is jewelry and scarves. Jewelry in the boxes and for the necklaces, I did a thing with shower curtain hooks. So, I have necklaces hanging on shower curtain rods. I have a really good mix of jewelry in drawers, as well, some nice pieces, but mostly a lot of fun costume jewelry. I shop at booths in the jewelry district in downtown Los Angeles. I get a lot of stuff there. And I used to go to Jennifer Miller all the time in New York City. She’s on the Upper East Side. She has a great mix of things from thirty-dollar rings to three-thousand-dollar rings, and everything in between.”

What about her other style signature, big and bold glasses? Today Allison is wearing her gray Dita bridgeless ‘Kohn’ glasses that she got back in May. I ask what inspired Allison to buy them. “Uhhhh, because they're COOL!” She punctuates this with a laugh. “I like that they're tinted slightly but not full-on. I gotta go back to my lady. I buy my sunglasses from this place, Optical Connection over on Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Studio City. I go in there and don't come out with under three pairs of glasses because Janine [Willenberg] is so good at picking the right ones.” 

Exactly how many pairs of glasses does Allison have? “Between my prescription sunglasses and my regular prescription glasses, there's like six to eight pairs I'm flipping around now.” Allison also tells me she has a "shit ton" of non-prescription sunglasses that she never gets to wear because she hates putting in her contact lenses. Still, she’s not really down with the idea of getting LASIK surgery. To demonstrate how bad her eyesight is, Allison takes off her glasses and tells me I’ve become totally blurry to her, despite our proximity. To prove the intensity of her prescription, she asks me to try on her frames. The lenses are so strong I can no longer see Allison at all, but wearing her glasses gives me a momentary cool factor boost, and I take it.
With her glasses back where they belong, Allison continues. “Yeah, I have always loved to shop. I probably have a little bit of a shopping problem.” She tells me she will regularly browse at Stacey Todd Boutique on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, “right there in my ‘hood.” Favoring luxury brands like Nili Lotan, Rag and Bone, or Raquel Allegra, Allison also does the online shopping thing. She’ll often snag designer pieces from sites like ShopBop and MatchesFashion. Lately, she’s also been picking up more disposable items from stores like Zara. “It helps fills up your closet but doesn’t put a huge hole in your wallet.” 

Allison is thrilled about not having to break the bank to look stylish and cool. “Lately, Keli has been coming over and bringing racks and racks of clothing. Keli's so great at getting things that are way marked down, so there’s like five hundred items of clothing all twenty dollars, how can you not?” When I speak to Keli after breakfast, she tells me how she and Allison have some things in common in their wardrobe. “I’ll find something, and I’ll say, I need to show this to Allison, but I already own it.” Recently, Keli has been bringing Allison lots of items from Zara and Nordstrom Rack, and from what she calls “the sale cave” at Billy’s Boutique in Tarzana, CA. Recent pieces include a pair of Zara chain-print pants and vanilla flats, a long 360Cashmere tie-dyed sweater, snakeskin boots by Coach and funky rocker tees. “I’m a really scrappy stylist,” Keli tells me. “Where I love the high, but I also love finding the low.” Allison is into this; she’s also into the way Keli puts together two different prints. “I love how Keli is doing this with me, pattern on pattern. She says to treat animal prints like neutrals.” 

I wonder about Allison’s dynamic with Keli and ask what she hopes to get out of working with her new day-to-day stylist. “So, Keli is gonna put together outfits for me. She has this thing called Girl on the Ground where she takes what I have in my closet…because I’ll go into my closet and I have so many clothes, yet I still don't know what to wear. So, Keli is gonna go in, put together and lay down on the floor all these full outfits, including the accessories. She will take pictures and catalog them as possible outfits for me to wear. That will help me when I'm in a rush or when I'm packing for a trip and I go, what can I wear? Soon I’ll be able to search through the photos and I can go get the pieces to pack or wear. It sort of takes away the hassle.”

As for Allison’s overall style vibe? “I told Keli I think I want to move towards more of the boho chic, funky hippy chic, with the men’s pajamas look mixed in.” Keli later elaborates. “What I want to do for Allison is this blend of boho hippy chic but tailored, with the tailored, the classic and the elegant. I love the tailored lines for Allison’s body. But I also love to throw in what’s unexpected. We’ve got a sequin suit jacket that I want to put with a rocker tee and booties and jeans – maybe breaking up the suit. What my vibe for Allison is… her personality, her essence, it is relatable and effortless. And it’s like, you’re gonna think that she just threw it on. It’s not so calculated. It’s just effortless.”

Allison again mentions the boost she’s gotten recently from putting a little more effort into her daily looks. “Keli is adding pieces that are making me feel good, even when I’m just going to the Farmer’s Market. I have some more confidence when I take the time to really get dressed. The kind of clothing that Keli is putting into my wardrobe is more the everyday stuff, the kind of clothing I can wear to rehearsal on a regular day when I don’t have to shoot. I want to have a more styled look than I’m used to putting together just to go to work or to the Market. You just feel better when you try.”

Is there anything significant about the fact that Allison is making a style upgrade as she approaches the close of a decade? How does she feel about turning sixty on November 19? Allison says her birthday has been on her mind; she’s currently in the process of planning an intimate gathering with her parents, family, and close friends. Though she’ll be celebrating quietly, Allison also seems jazzed for the next era. She does not seem at all concerned about the number. And she shares a positive attitude about feeling ready to accept her style. “I think that turning sixty I will probably care less about what people think of what I'm wearing and be more comfortable in owning what I like to wear. I want to be embracing the male pajama look.” She laughs in that familiar way. “That's gonna be my sixties, all about the chic male pajama look. Drape-y and elegant, but casual.”

I wonder if Allison has ever felt pressure to avoid or tone down her obvious sex appeal as she approaches sixty. Allison chuckles at this. “There are times where I look at things and go, this probably isn't ‘age appropriate’. I was recently trying on some Marc Jacobs thing that came with those sock booties and I said, yeah, this is a younger girl’s game. I can’t do that. It's pretty obvious to me where the lines are drawn with that. For example, I don't do short-short skirts. I do like to push that envelope, but I cannot do a short-short skirt without a pair of solid tight matte stockings on. Also…ruffles. Not great on me. I wouldn't say completely no, but for the most part, ruffles have never worked on my frame.”

As she heads into sixty, I am curious if Allison has discovered any new style inspirations to help fill out the next phase in her wardrobe’s life. She pulls out her phone and starts tapping at the screen. She’s adorably flummoxed by her apps. “Stacy, help me find Pinterest…Shit. I can't find Pinterest. Ugh. Okay, there it is. My daily inspirations…let’s see…a lot comes from my stylists, and from magazines.” Allison finds what she is looking for on Pinterest and begins rapidly scrolling, hyped to show me some pins. “Okay, here, look at Jenna Lyons. Keli turned me on to Jenna. She is my style icon. Look at this.” Jenna Lyons is the former creative director at J. Crew; she now leads a multi-platform lifestyle venture. Lyons is tall, and her looks are tailored, but with unexpected twists of big fun. Allison is pointing at everything from mixed-print slacks and oversized coats, to sequined jackets and satin pants. “Look at that. That is fucking gorgeous! Jenna Lyons is everything. Look at that! Look at THAT!” Allison is loving a long, feathered skirt paired with a large animal print coat. “I wanna do that. She is everything to me. Look at those pants, those big palazzo pants? I only discovered her recently. Everything she wears is just...I just love it. Look at that jacket. I want that. So yeah. Jenna Lyons is my new style icon.”

While we are looking through Jenna Lyons on Pinterest, Allison receives a text message from her I, Tonya co-star, Paul Walter Hauser. The actor played the role of Tonya Harding’s bumbling bodyguard, and he is sitting three tables away. Paul texts that he wants to come over and say hello but is concerned about interrupting because "it looks like you're having a really intense conversation." We crack up; Paul is right. Allison jumps up to briefly reconnect with him. Paul is lovely and though they didn’t share any scenes together in I, Tonya, it’s clear that he and Allison developed a bond during the award season press tour. When we sit back down, we start talking a little bit about that I, Tonya press tour period, which is when her stylist Tara Swennen entered the picture. Allison elaborates for me on how that era of her fashion life began; it turns out, we have Allison’s longtime hairdresser Jill Crosby to thank.

“Jill had always wanted me to work with Tara because she works with Julie Bowen, who is styled by Tara. So, I just decided to meet with Tara, and I liked the clothes she brought to me. They were a little more edgy than what I was wearing before, and I felt like I definitely wanted to be edgier and take more chances. I mean, the dress she put me in for the I, Tonya premiere, the red Rani Zakhem dress with the gold flames? That was exactly the kind of thing that I wanted to do. I love and understand the theatricality of the red carpet and I know that I'm incredibly tall and I can wear a lot of things that a lot of people can't. So, I was like, let's go there, let's get some crazy things." Similar in its dramatic effect, I mention the Bibhu Mohapatra structured-shoulder gown she wore when she accepted her first BAFTA award in February 2018. Allison exudes a shy pride. "I know, that was a little scary for me, but I was like, what the hell: let's do it." 

So, is it Tara who gives Allison the confidence to try these bold and brave new looks? She shakes her head. "Oh, I have it in me when I put on the dress. When I have on the right thing, I go, oh yeah, this dress is not gonna wear me: I'm gonna wear IT! I get a strange kind of confidence boost when putting on a dress that's crazy and I know that it looks good.”
Allison obviously has trust in her bond with Tara, and they understand one another. “Fortunately, Tara lives right around the corner from me, and I prefer to go over to her house, so she doesn’t have to lug tons of clothes over to me. I go to her house and Ilana comes with me. Tara has racks and racks of clothes, and we just start trying stuff on. She has her favorites and I usually agree with everything she says she loves.” 

So, when can we expect to next see Allison on a red carpet? She is thrilled to be heading to this year’s Toronto International Film Festival on September 8. “We are getting ready to go to Toronto for the Bad Education premiere. I just had the fitting with Tara. I’m really excited about what we picked out. We have some really fun things and stuff I’ve never done before. You’re gonna love it all. I'll have the Toronto premiere and multiple Toronto press days. I have to go to a Chanel dinner in Toronto, as well. I'm also going to London, for the UK premiere of Bad Education, I think that’s in October.”
Allison is hopeful that her co-starring role with Hugh Jackman – in the true story of a Long Island school district embezzlement scandal – will be a big hit. Maybe TIFF will be the ticket like it was with I, Tonya in 2017. “We’ll see what happens in Toronto. I hope Bad Education does well there and that we get a great studio to release it.” 

At this point, Allison has finished her breakfast while I’m still working on the avocado toast. I start to cough when a bite heads down the wrong pipe – as you can imagine, the experience is a little overwhelming for this fan-turned- ‘journalist’. Allison is on it and she pats my back. “Are you okay? Breathe. Swallow. Drink water.” We laugh at the absurdity. “Alright, good. Please don’t die on me here.”

When I recover, we turn to beauty topics: specifically, cosmetics, skincare, and hair. Allison has joined me this morning wearing a terrific outfit, but hardly a stitch of makeup. Her skin is clear and smooth, even toned and glowing.

“My glasses are my makeup. I feel better without makeup on, especially as I get older. Makeup is not as kind to an older face because it shows up in the nooks and crannies. I would prefer to just have a little mascara on, a little lip color and slightly tinted moisturizer. I like that Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer…less makeup is better on me. That tinted Fresh sugar lip balm? The red one is a really good color.” Allison carries in her bag a variety of other lip glosses that she also recommends for remaining low-key: products by Giorgio Armani, Elizabeth Arden, Chantecaille and Charlotte Tilbury. 

So, when does she think women should start their anti-aging efforts? Allison asks how I old I am; when I tell her I recently turned thirty-four, she says I have a “really beautiful” complexion. She is exaggerating, and it is probably time for me to begin a serious skincare routine. Allison gets animated and starts giving me directions. “Get a scrub, an exfoliating scrub. You need face lotions, moisturizers, and get an under-eye cream. I go see this dermatologist, Dr. Lancer. I use all Lancer’s products. The polish and the cleanser. I do it every day. And especially when I have a lot of makeup to take off after I shoot, I just use coconut oil on my face with a hot towel. Coconut oil is the perfect thing to help remove makeup. It’s heaven. Don’t sleep with your makeup on. I sometimes sleep with those face masks on, you know, those sheet masks? SK-II has some good face masks. I like their serums, as well.” Other skincare products Allison recommends are those by Dr. Barbara Sturm and Georgia Louise. She also has regular oxygen facials before the red carpet from the “wonderful” Gavin McLeod-Valentine, Director of Studio Services at Intraceuticals Skincare. 

Allison continues to dole out her skin advice. “Sometimes they say to only wash your face with cold water – but I just love the warm water. Cold can be good, too, though. When I was down in hot Mississippi all summer shooting the movie [her upcoming lead role in Breaking News in Yuba County], in the mornings, to feel less puffy, I would put my entire face in a big bowl of ice water before going into makeup. And I bought from Georgia Louise – she has a really great skincare line – these cold paddles that you keep in the freezer. Then you take them out and you put on a little hyaluronic serum and then you do…all over, like this.” Allison pantomimes how to put the cold paddles all over your face to help de-puff your eyes and skin. With a wink, she also tells me I can just use a frozen spoon.
One last tip Allison gives me is to mix apple cider vinegar with an Egyptian Clay mask from Whole Foods. “So, it’s a mask and you mix it with apple cider vinegar. You put that on, and it brings the blood to your skin. It tingles and really gets your circulation going. It’s fantastic and kind of cheap.”

Sitting together as we’ve been, Allison’s perfume hasn’t gone unnoticed; I pick up a gorgeous deep mix of spices, patchouli, sandalwood, and rose. Allison’s fragrance of choice is one of the top questions that followers requested I ask her about today. The answer is Frédéric Malle’s Portrait of a Lady by Dominique Ropion. It is a powerful, smoky and dramatic fragrance with a big personality, entirely befitting my subject. Allison lights up at the question, pleased to share. “Isn’t it great?” 

Moving on from cosmetics and skin, I prompt Allison to talk about her long hair, which for the past seven years has been her signature. “Okay, so I have extensions. I can't live without extensions. Jill Crosby started me on them. It's all extensions.” I admit to Allison that I can’t actually make out where her real hair ends and the extensions begin. At the top of her head, Allison shows me pieces of her natural hair. I say I think it’s beautiful. She laughs. “No, honey.” I say her hair all looks the same, and now Allison wants to prove it. “Put your hand up into my hair. You have to go like this, up here, like this and feel the extensions.” She directs me to put my fingers into her hair behind her neck, near her scalp, which, at this point in our conversation, no longer seems outside the boundaries. I feel the knots where Allison’s hair extensions are attached, and can, in fact, confirm. 

Allison expands her thoughts about her hair, which I can tell is more than just a superficial topic. “From all the extensions and things, my real hair is in very bad shape. To have it look good I'd probably have to do a really short-short cut and kind of start over. But one day, I do want to grow it out to be really long and fully gray because I'm completely gray. My friend Sarah has all gray long hair and she looks so cool. It looks really pretty. Anything goes these days with hair and it's really what makes you feel good...after all the years of hair dye and extensions, to let your hair just be what it is...I love that. Not having to feel the need to do all of this. But I gotta tell you though, right now? Without these hair extensions, I don't feel like I have power. The hair gives me power. It makes me feel so much better. I just love having my long hair, I am kind of addicted to it.”

Allison says the process of putting in and maintaining her hair extensions is both expensive and time consuming. Every three months, it takes Jill Crosby up to six hours just taking out the old extensions and putting in the new hair. But Allison appreciates the zeal her longtime hairdresser has for her craft. “Jill has been with me since The West Wing. She came down and worked with me this summer in Mississippi. She buys me shampoo. Right now, I’m using about ten different kinds…some are from Oribe and Olaplex. I just like how Jill is so passionate about hair. When you work with someone who loves what they do and is so into their work...it just makes you feel great.”

I tell Allison how much I appreciate her openness about having hair extensions. Others in her position might choose to remain mum on the subject, but not Allison. “I just gotta own it because saying it's mine feels inauthentic, and that's not who I am. I'm getting more comfortable with who I am as I get older. I have in the past had trouble, you know, being so much about what other people wanted me to be. It was all: who do YOU need me to be? And that's probably not really healthy.”

As the clock approaches noon, Allison is due over at Warner Brothers for MOM rehearsal and other show-night preparations. Her character, the newly married recovering addict Bonnie Plunkett, wears a lot of funky prints and patterns just like Allison Janney might select. I wonder how much influence Allison has in that department. “I just trust our costumer Karla [Flanigan]. I'm so lazy at doing fittings, and she knows I hate them. I don't like trying on clothes; it’s just exhausting. So, I just walk into the MOM fitting and Karla will have a rack of clothing and I will go through and say, I love that, I love that, I don't love that…I don't actually ever try anything on anymore.” When I ask Allison how she feels about being a style role model, she becomes shy and says she doesn’t know how to answer this question. “I never really thought I was one. It’s nice to have people appreciate my style…it’s very flattering and it makes me feel good about myself. It’s nice knowing that I actually do have a style and a way of putting things together that I’ve developed over the years. My height is certainly a factor. When you’re really tall, clothes tend to drape on you well. My height wasn’t always an asset in my mind; it was hard to always be so tall. So, it’s nice now to have that be an advantage.”

I wonder if Allison has any advice for women who follow her style page and for those who look up to her as a fashion ideal. She thinks about this quietly for a moment. “I say take what works for you, whatever makes you feel comfortable in your own skin. If you try something that I use and it doesn’t work on you, don’t do it!” She laughs. “It’s whatever makes YOU feel powerful when you walk out the door. You can admire and appreciate certain people for how they look, even if you know it wouldn’t look good on you and that’s okay. It’s about knowing what works for you and your body type. It’s about being comfortable in your own skin, because if you get comfortable with yourself, your style will follow.” 

I absorb a great deal from Allison during our time together – new insights into her personality, fresh thoughts on her style philosophy, great skincare tips, and the intoxicating wisps of Portrait of a Lady. But the most important thing I take away is a sense that she’s happy and doing genuinely well on a personal level. Not only is Allison sitting at a high point in her career, but she’s really embracing who she is on the inside. She’s content with her family & friends, her home, her pups, and her daily routine. Allison is owning her style and having fun with new fashion ideas, ramping it up and feeling great about herself in the process. Allison is heading into a new decade strapped with the kind of beautiful confidence that comes when you allow yourself to finally follow your heart. “I’ve been spending a lot of time in my car recently,” she tells me, “and I will look at the license plate in front of me. Lately, there's always an ‘AJ’ in it. It makes me happy. I go, wow, okay. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be right now.” *