Styling Allison Janney: Interview with Tara Swennen

April 20, 2020

As all Janney fans and close followers know, Allison’s upcoming major film, HBO’s Bad Education, was set to have a red carpet roll-out at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 18th. While we are sad to miss another opportunity to appreciate Allison’s ongoing fashion game, fans will of course continue to support Allison’s work in our new virtual reality. We excitedly await the movie’s first official television airing at 8pm on Saturday April 25th; in lieu of my usual coverage of Allison’s big red carpet and press tour moments, I am proudly bringing to the blog a full Q&A with Allison’s red carpet stylist of three years, Tara Swennen.

A graduate of Cornell University’s fashion program with over twenty years of styling experience, Tara got her start in New York with Andrea Lieberman, founder of the line A.L.C. After 9/11, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in celebrity styling. In addition to Allison, Tara’s client list includes other major stars like Kristen Stewart, Andrea Savage, Julie Bowen, Matthew McConaughey, and Josephine Langford. Over the past two decades, Tara has built up her profile and finds herself a regular on The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Top 25 Power Stylists list.

Having worked with and enhanced the red carpet looks for hundreds of high-profile celebrity clients over the years, Tara instantly shifted Allison’s style profile into the upper echelons. Coming together at the dawn of the I, Tonya press tour in the fall of 2017, Allison’s award show looks immediately began to soar under Tara’s direction; as the world watched Allison take home trophy after trophy for her chilling portrayal of Tonya Harding’s mother, her coinciding style elevation did not go unnoticed. That Allison’s fashion glow-up took place alongside the addition of an Academy Award to her already-heavy mantle made it all the more spectacular to watch. As they continue on together, it’s clear to fans and fashion observers alike that Tara and Allison make a winning red carpet formula.

I spoke with the respected stylist by phone for over an hour from our bi-coastal quarantines. Tara’s energy is vibrant and passionate; she’s charming and hilarious. It was immediately clear to me just how much Tara loves – and lives for – her work in the fashion styling business. With no end in sight to the coronavirus shutdown that’s currently impacting most industries across the United States, Tara nonetheless expressed positive and hopeful thoughts about the eventual return to normalcy for the entertainment industry - and by extension, her styling business. Our in depth conversation included many fascinating insider details about the celebrity styling and fashion worlds; we spoke about some of Allison’s most iconic red carpet looks of the past several years, and we got into the nuts of bolts of the planning, fitting, and other prep work that goes into styling Allison. Our complete chat also includes several delightful behind the scenes tales from the Allison style trails. Enjoy!

[Stacy]: We have been DMing on Instagram for months especially when I can’t figure out what jewelry Allison wore on the red carpet, but there’s so much more about your business and working with Allison that I can’t wait to find out. I know you guys were initially connected through Allison’s longtime hairdresser, Jill Crosby.
[Tara]: We all have agents, but honestly in this business, 90% of what you do is through your own hustle. Jill Crosby works with Julie Bowen, a client we share, and we have one or two other people in common who in the fall of 2017 kept saying: “You guys are both hilarious and super chill and you have the same vibe, and we feel you would really just get on!”

At the time, Allison had been with her prior stylist Linda [Medvene] for years. As stylists, we are dealing with a woman and her image, you know? We see their bodies, and it can be vulnerable. It’s a very personal relationship. And as you already know, Allison is a very, very loyal person. While she was a client of Linda’s, I think at some point it just needed to change. The winds changed and the timing was right. I felt very, very blessed that we have people in common who said: “Just meet, do one or two things together, see how it meshes, and just go from there.” And obviously it was love at first sight for both of us.

You joined Allison’s team right at the start of the I, Tonya press tour. Did you realize you were stepping into this big major moment in Allison’s career?

Somehow the universe brought us together and it was very well timed for that press tour. It was really funny. When they first called me, I was like: “I have the Oscar winner!” I just knew it. There was no doubt in my mind. I’ve had Oscar nominees, but in my mind, from the get-go with Allison, she had it in the bag. I remember when I struggled in the beginning to get her some designers, I would say to them: “Listen, I don’t normally do this but I’m telling you, she’s the winner. It’s going to be a clean sweep, this woman. If you haven’t seen the movie, go watch it, it’s not even a question.”

Explain what you mean when you say you struggled in the beginning to get Allison some designers. Did certain designers not want to dress her before she won the Oscar?

Politics come into play on a major, major level in our industry. It depends on who it is. Obviously, Allison is now an Oscar winner, so that’s become a major component. But every designer has a direction that they’re looking to go. I’ve found that some designers are only looking at the youth. They’re looking at the influencers, the street style vibe of it all. That unfortunately is one of the things that I don’t like about my business. There are certain amounts of ageism, sizeism, and all sorts of things that run against the idea that we’re supposed to be inclusive on every level.

How did you handle the politics of styling with Allison when she first became your client?

With Allison it was very nice because she has understood the evolution of it all. When she came to me, I told her: “These are the brands we are going to start with.” I will do a blanket reach-out whenever I take on any new client. I basically say to designers: “Listen, we just started with Allison Janney. She’s amazing, she’s promoting I, Tonya. I think she’s got a really good shot at winning the Oscar, will you help me out?” You get a list of designers who say yes, and there will be those who say no.

Luckily for me, Allison is someone who understood that it’s basically a ladder, and that we’re going to need to climb the ladder slowly but surely. With every red carpet, when we showed people that we were doing something different with her look now, and they saw, oh she looks amazing…that opened up more and more doors. Allison grasped that she needed to play the game. But then there’s the opposite of what’s happened to Allison, in that I’ve had clients for fifteen years where they used to be able to get top tier designers, but maybe now their career has dipped a little bit, and it’s very hard to explain that to a client.

Allison was always like: “I trust you, whatever you do, do it. Do it in style and do it gracefully, and don’t hold my stuff over anyone else’s head.” Which is a lot of what some stylists do. For example, sometimes stylists will say to a designer: “I’m not going to put your stuff on so-and-so unless you dress my other client.” Allison would never want me to roll that way, which I would never.

Do the politics ever get easier?

One of the sayings in the styling world is: “You’re only as good as your last red carpet” which essentially means that you need to build your own name up and then build your clients up as well. And over time, it happens. It also gets easier when the carpet gets bigger. For each designer, the level of added sales they’ll get for putting a dress on someone who’s going to the Oscars, is a whole different level. That’s millions of dollars worth of exposure for a designer. They are also more willing to pay for the costs if they can get a guarantee. For instance, while Allison may need to pay for her own alterations for a smaller red carpet, with something like the Oscars…the designer is definitely paying for it. But the politics are very tricky.

This is a side of your business that I’m sure the average follower on my page hasn’t heard much about.

Yeah, as far as alterations go, that’s always a thing…the designer’s budgets allow only one sample set that goes down the runway. And those models are teeny, tiny sizes but it has gotten better. Designers will now build slightly larger samples. I’m talking more like sizes 2/4 as opposed to 0/2. Then they’ll cheat it by taking in the gown for the runway show where it only has to last twenty minutes. Then the sizes are slightly larger when the sample goes out for the red carpets.

For someone like Allison, alterations are necessary more for her height. Her build is naturally just a little bit bigger because she’s taller, so every now and then the samples don’t fit. And some sample sets, we’re talking about beaded crazy expensive pieces that sometimes need two months of a leeway to make, and designers can only afford to make one. That one sample set needs to be shared among celebrities, editorials, sales, trunk shows, visuals for department stores…it’s a struggle. So when you call Christian Siriano and say “I want Looks Six, Seven, and Eight for so and so”, he needs to decide what is more important: taking the chance on having it possibly work out on Allison, versus going to a trunk show in Dallas where he could make thousands of dollars worth of sales, or sending it to Vogue where he gets massive exposure. And that’s all a decision that their internal PR teams need to make.

How do these issues impact the way you go about acquiring dresses for Allison?
When I send out a list of requests, I always over-ask because I know even if I request ten dresses, I’m going to get one or two at best, and they might not be my favorites, and it could all depend on what day I make the request. If it’s Monday, the dress is somewhere else and someone is using it, and so on. You also have the budget aspect you have to deal with.

I’ve always wanted to know how these dresses get paid for!

It depends whether you’re doing TV or whether you’re doing movies. Movies tend to have bigger budgets for PR. Unfortunately, if you’re on TV it’s much more of a struggle. It has fallen a lot of the time on the actresses to pay, because the studios don’t want to pay for instance for alterations anymore.

Instead of having to alter the gowns, is it easier for example to just go the custom route? Allison has had so many incredible custom gowns, especially during the 2018 season, including the Oscars gown. I’m also thinking of the sequin Yanina Couture gown at the SAG Awards that year, her Pamella Roland pink gown with the cutouts for the Spirit Awards...and her BAFTA gown I believe was custom, too, right?

Yes! They offer it for big red carpets. It is a risk for sure. I tend to not always like doing custom because there are times where it shows up and you’re like: “Duuuude, that doesn’t look ANYTHING like the sketch you sent me.” Fortunately, none have ever turned out like that for Allison. Bibhu [Mohapatra, who designed Allison’s BAFTA gown in 2018] is a good friend of mine and I knew I could trust his vision on that. I knew that it would come out exactly the way it was supposed to come out. I’ve also done a lot of stuff with Pamella, and it works every time.

When Allison is getting a custom piece, how much actual input do you guys get to have?

I tend to work with designers that allow us to be part of the process because I think it is fun for Allison. And it’s fun for me, too! We get to walk the dress through every step of the way. I get photos of it as it is happening, so I can be like: “Oooooh I don’t really like that fabric”, or “Oh, let’s move that up, let’s shift that, let’s make this a little bit lower.”

Allison’s custom looks have definitely been some of my favorites over the past two years.

We’ve been very lucky in that department. A lot of people say they don’t like to go the custom route because you feel obliged to wear it even if the dress were to show up and not be anything you even really like. Then you feel a little bit screwed. We’ve been very lucky. Plus, people like Christian Siriano have Allison’s measurements so usually when it gets to us, it’s so well-tailored it only needs a little tweak here or there. That makes it easier for us too. And Allison is very trusting in that department. One of the greatest custom moves we had was when Mario Dice, during the Golden Globes Times Up movement in 2018, he was willing to black out that dress for us. [The dress was originally white]. It was incredible that he was able to turn that around for us.

Can we talk about Allison’s 2018 Academy Awards gown, the red Reem Acra? It was so classic, she looked so totally regal – I think that dress became instantly iconic on so many levels. How did you and Allison decide to go with Reem?

There had been a lot of designers who had pooh-pooh’d me in the beginning of the season. So by the end, because Allison is such a down-to-earth, true-to-herself person, we both wanted to support the designers who supported her from the get-go. Reem Acra had been a supporter since the beginning so when we got that sketch, I said to Allison, “Let’s do something with one of these people.” I appreciated they had been loyal from the start, as opposed to the designers who were all of a sudden clamoring to get in because she’d taken home every award.

Dressing Allison for that Oscars is truly one of my favorite moments of my entire career. It was such a beautiful thing. She still didn’t think she was winning the Oscar, and I constantly, over the five months of the run, was like: “Girl. Just lean in at this point. I’m telling you. You’ve got it.” The only real question was the actual dilemma of her dress for Oscar night itself.

It’s hard for me to now imagine Allison wearing anything else but that red gown. What else was in the mix for her?

For me, it was immediate that I knew it was the red Reem Acra, but for a huge carpet like the Oscars, multiple designers are willing to take the risk and put up the money to make a gown. We got down to three before narrowing out a Vivienne Westwood. Then we were down to just the two. Our back-up dress ended up being a Vera Wang. And Vera and Reem were both very aware that someone was going to lose out. And they were both like: “We don’t care, we love her so much, we love you, we want to make it, so we’re going to take the risk, and God forbid it doesn’t work out, we will have an extra dress that can go around during the next awards season.” Allison was really at 50/50. I told her to take the photos, pass them around to whoever she wanted, get the input. And she ended up going with Reem.

It sounds like you and Allison have an easy working relationship. Can you talk a little bit about what she’s like as a client?

I really enjoy working with Allison. She looks like a twenty-year-old in every aspect of her frame. Her height is one of the most amazing things that I have to work with. I love her height. Her body is insane. She’s an incredible muse. As far as a client goes, she’s a stylist’s total dream because she’s willing to listen. A lot of us get very stuck in our ways and get ideas in our heads about where we have shortcomings. Some women decide they don’t like certain parts of their bodies as they get older. But Allison will indulge me even if it’s just in a fitting. I’ll say to her: “Just try this on. I know you don’t normally do peplums but we’re going to give it a shot.” She’s very trusting, and for me as a stylist, that’s the ultimate. We do have clients who resist. They have ideas in their head, or they listen to the caucus of people around them who say this is what you should be, or this is what you should do. But Allison is fearless.

When I interviewed her last August, I asked Allison how she felt being sixty plays into her fashion choices. I’ll ask you the same. Does Allison’s age in any way impact how you choose to dress her?

Listen, we take into consideration her age, but she can pull off way more than a lot of women her age can. She’s willing to take the risk. She’s a character player in real life so she enjoys that aspect of fashion. She’s willing to be a chameleon which for me is a dream. She’s just a dream, a dream client. She comes to fittings with a great attitude. She tries everything on that I ask, and she is very knowledgeable about what works on her body and what doesn’t. She knows immediately if she wants to wear it or not. I don’t want to be that stylist who pushes if she doesn’t want to do it.

Have you ever pushed Allison to wear something that she was initially reluctant to try?

There were a few times where she has been a little on the fence, but never fully reluctant. It was more: “Can I pull this off? It’s a little tight, or a little revealing.” In the end, I would never be someone to push her. It shows on the red carpet if the client feels uncomfortable. When I see resistance from Allison, I always say: “Don’t worry about it, forget about it” and we will move on. There are other times when the client will feel very ‘meh’ about something and I’ll have to push and say: “Listen, this is a big designer, and if we want to move up the echelon, this is what you should do…” but it has never been that way with Allison. With her, it is often that immediately something sparks when she sees herself in the dress and she just knows.

I think your work has caused fashion to become a very empowering new aspect of Allison’s career. She’s on another level these days in both respects.

Allison is just very willing to do a lot of things. The beauty of Allison is that she pulls everything off very elegantly. I think that when she realized she could lean into fashion as a new element in her life, she began to really, really enjoy it. You can see that on the carpets. It was amazing, at some point because I could really see her feeling herself! And as a stylist, that is the most important thing. I am not a stylist who only believes in elevating through the biggest brands. I got into this business to make women feel empowered and amazing and beautiful. So, when Allison leaves for an event, and I can tell every time that she feels fantastic, there’s no better feeling.

We talked about Allison’s 2018 Oscars gown, but another look I wanted to dive into was the light blue 2019 Golden Globes gown by Christian Siriano.

That was a funny story. This is why I love Allison so much. Christian Siriano posted a model on his Instagram as he was making that blue dress. He was showing it in Paris, and I saw the color and I saw the shape. So I DM’d him and I said: “Babe, that’s what I want for Allison Janney for the Golden Globes.” Then I sent the photo to Allison and I said to her: “Can I have him make this for you? This is what I want you to wear.” And she said, “Absolutely!” So on that leap of faith - literally off of one Instagram post - Allison let me have him make it, and it was perfection.

That chunky, colorful, over-sized David Webb jewelry you used with that Siriano gown was so next level. It was such a unique pairing that really worked. How did you decide to put this together?

With jewelry, it’s always a matter of deciding whether we go the expected route, or if we want to go the unusual route. Allison, as you know, is enamored with jewelry. It is always something really fun for us. A lot of my other clients…I wouldn’t say they’re scared of jewelry, but what’s trendy right now are these little tiny bee-boo bobs that you layer. Yes, that can be super fun, but Allison is one of my clients where I know I can get the big guns on her and I love that.

So, for the 2019 Golden Globes, it was still prior to the holiday when I found that David Webb necklace and fell in love with it. I showed Allison the piece and I said: “Listen, this is a little unusual, but I want to try this as a double-wrap choker.” We tried it on and we were both like: “OH MY GOD. This is it, done. This is what elevates the look, let’s do it.”

I called David Webb and his people and told them to lock it in for us. This was maybe the beginning of December. Then I went on a Disney cruise with my daughter and I got an email at sea saying: “We are terribly, terribly sorry but we have sold the necklace. It’s three hundred fifty thousand dollars, and we have to make this sale. We are so sorry, but here’s another option.”

So David Webb offered you an alternative necklace – was it similar in style?

Yeah, but for me, it was not even half as cool. So then I was imploring these people from sea: “Please, literally find the buyer; I will do whatever I have to do but I just need to delay the sale for six days. It will make it way more valuable to the buyer in the end that it was worn on a big red carpet.” But you never know. People who are spending three hundred fifty thousand dollars? They sometimes don’t want anyone to have even touched it! But they let Allison wear it, which is a big deal because honestly, there’s a risk. But we fought the good fight and luckily, we got it and it was great. That’s one of those crazy stories. It was worth it.

Speaking of jewelry, a lot of us who chat via my Instagram page have really fallen in love with how Allison always seems to be wearing a pinky ring. I even did this big collage of every time Allison has worn a pinky ring, and it’s all been on your watch, Tara.

[Laughing] You know what it is? This is a dirty secret! The sample rings never fit! So we always just put the ring on her pinky! It goes back to the same thing I mentioned earlier with the sizing of the runway clothes – jewelers can only afford to make one size and that’s it. I have the same issue because I’m also tall, so I completely sympathize with Allison on that. Luckily, Allison is totally cool with making the pinky ring her signature.

Let me ask you about being part of Allison’s larger glam team. Do you give input into the elements of Allison’s hair or makeup as it may pertain to the overall impact on the look?

I tend to let her team decide. The only time I will intervene is if they ask or if I really think it’s wrong. It’s easy to put my trust in the team that Allison has put together. Her squad is full of very well-respected artists. Every once in a while, I’ll say my input because I want the earring to show or something like that which helps the look, but I would never overstep. I don’t think we’ve ever gotten into a situation. I tend to be very relaxed. I know other stylists will bring inspiration sheets and bring things showing how they want it to happen. But most of the time I actually really like what people do! This is a creative collaboration. I feel very blessed to be a part of Allison’s camp. I hope I’m part of her team forever.

Well trust me, Allison’s fans feel the same way about your role on her team. I’ve been so sad that we’re missing out on all the looks that would have come from the Bad Education press tour.
We knew for a while that Bad Education was supposed to be an April push so it’s definitely depressing that all the events were canceled. And when Allison is excited for it, like she was for Bad Education, that’s how I know it’s going to be good. I think Bad Ed will definitely be an award season pull, so there will be that. We are hoping on all fronts.

Can you talk a little bit about putting together multiple looks for Allison and everything that goes into planning for a multi-event press tour like that?

How it normally works is Allison will say to me: “I’ve got this event or these events coming up.” I tend to like fitting for multiple events at the same time. It just makes it easier on everybody but sometimes you only get word of one at a time. I have a studio and 99% of my clients come to me. Every once in a while, I go to them. So, they tell you what they need to be dressed for and I start planning by going through Vogue Runway, checking the various fashion shows and I pick the looks I want to try to call in. Then we reach out to those designers. I have a team that rolls anywhere from three to five people who work for me while also freelancing for other people. I have a few that are full time and some who freelance when things get wild. We figure out how many pieces we want to fly in and how many we want to pull from here [Los Angeles]. There are a variety of showrooms and designers who have home bases here and so once we do the computer work and the emails, we take to the streets and all of us literally go out into the L.A. fashion world. At each showroom, you pull from what they’ll let you. Usually there is a limit because all the stylists, we have to share. Then I bring it all back to my studio and get ready for Allison to come and do a fitting.

What are the nuts and bolts of an actual fitting with Allison?

I tend to organize everything I’ve pulled for her onto my racks starting from my favorites then going to my least favorites. So as far as merchandising the racks, I do dresses, outfits, then separates in their own zones. So if I have an outfit that I know works but the pants don’t work, I can easily and quickly during a fitting go to my pant area, and they’re all there – black pants, blue pants, whatever - and I can find an alternative.

The lifespan of a fitting at best is usually an hour to two hours. It’s a workout! You have to be able to keep the client entertained and inspired, and it’s a lot of psychology that goes into it. There are days where the client’s mood might be down, but you can’t always control that. It is what it is. Allison is someone who actually listens, so the fitting goes fairly fast with Allison.

What happens after you guys do the fitting?

We like to rack up one or two more extra in case something comes up with her. Designers know that she and I are true to our word and we will never hold something for more than a couple of weeks. So, if I say to a designer: “Please let us hold this because we’re going to confirm something next Sunday….”, I’ve found that Allison will be very good about actually wearing the stuff we held if something comes up.

Next, we package the outfits if she is traveling with them. If Allison is doing a talk show here in Los Angeles, I will go dress her at the talk show, but if she’s traveling, the next step once we find the outfit is to nail down all the accessories. For a big out of town press tour or something like Toronto Film Festival that she did last year, we will make a binder for her with all the images. We try to make it as easy for Allison as possible when she’s traveling so all she has to do is look at the binder and see what jewelry goes with what outfit. After she wears it, we get it back within 24 to 48 hours, because the designers want to repurpose it yet again. It really depends on the designer. Some will allow our clients to keep stuff for much longer. Allison is very trustworthy and the people who have been dressing know she’ll do what she says she’s going to do.

Do you have any funny stories about dressing Allison?

Let me think….funny stories! I’m sure she’s told you we’ve definitely had some zippers pop. This is literally your worst nightmare. One specific time I can think of was when Allison was doing the BAFTA Tea Party luncheon in 2018 and she had this Roksanda dress on. The thing just split down the back. Luckily her publicist at the time had a sweater that Allison just wrapped around her waist for the luncheon. But afterwards, she was supposed to do a Vanity Fair photo shoot in that same dress – and now it’s actually a very famous image, I’m sure you know it, where she’s in a white bathrobe. That was because the dress legit ripped. So that was funny but it really worked out.

Tara, this has been so much fun. I want to thank you so much for talking with me about Allison and the styling business. I’d also like to thank you for how you’re always willing to give me the designer information ahead of Allison’s events. You have made the work of doing AJ Style a lot easier for me!!

It’s a great page. I love it! Allison loves it too. She and I always joke that you know the prices and stuff for the pieces before I do.

Are there any final thoughts you’d like to share?

Honestly, Allison is like family to me at this point. I love Allison as a person and as a client. One of the things I love about her is that she goes for color and she loves flair and she is very funky…but if you notice, we keep it very classy and very elevated while still doing fun things. She stands out. She’s special. She knows how to show her personality while keeping it elegant. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I will come to my retirement with some of my fondest memories being of that woman. Truthfully, Allison really is an amazing human being. You’ve met her and know her well now, too, so you know: she is very special in Hollywood. I’ve had hundreds of clients and Allison is a very special human being, that one. *