‘Abbott Elementary’ hair and makeup artists Moira Frazier and Constance Foe on giving Janine a ‘more purposeful’ look in Season 3 [Exclusive Video Interview]
Production on Season 3 of “Abbott Elementary” was delayed due to last year’s Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes, resulting in a longer-than-usual hiatus between seasons for the cast and crew of the hit ABC sitcom. What implications did this have for Moira Frazier and Constance Foe, the show’s hair and makeup department heads, respectively? Because they had no way of knowing where the series was headed narratively but had to be prepared to jump into work as soon as the strikes were over, they used the extended break between seasons to hone their craft.
“I had to just kind of make myself be ready, because I knew that when [production] was going to open back up, we were going to hit the pavement really hard,” Frazier reveals during a recent webchat with Gold Derby (watch the full exclusive video interview above). Once the WGA strike ended on Sept. 27, the show’s writers, including showrunner and star Quinta Brunson, were able to give the hair department head a taste of the basic plot of the first two episodes of Season 3. But since the SAG-AFTRA strike didn’t conclude until over a month later — on November 9 — Frazier couldn’t have the actors come in for any fittings. “Thankfully, I already had their measurements… so I could at least work on the backs [of the wigs],” she says. “As soon as the strike lifted and everyone came to an agreement, I literally had 21 days to make two full-lace wigs, two hairpiece toppers [and] one half-hairpiece.”
For Foe, the experience in between seasons was similar to that of her colleague. “I started taking more classes, I was getting with other artists, and we were just feeding off of each other, and you know, just constantly in the groove, so you won’t lose what you’re doing,” she shares. “Going into the season, I was coming up with vision boards and seeing what may work or if it may be too much, because each character has their own signature look.”
One of the characters whose signature look changes this season is Janine’s (Brunson). After being rejected by Gregory (Tyler James Williams) — who has put a “period” on their will-they-won’t-they relationship — and leaving the show’s eponymous underfunded public school to work for the Philadelphia school district, Janine finds herself in a new emotional state and work environment at the outset of Season 3. While Foe and Frazier gave Janine a more refined look in order to reflect these story developments, they wanted to ensure that any changes they made to the character’s appearance were subtle.
“We went with more jewel-toned eyeliners this season; it’s still dark enough to look black and dark brown, but once the light hits it, it dazzles into the emeralds and the sapphires and the jades, and it would match her outfits,” Foe explains about the makeup work that she did on Brunson. “For me, it made it as if [Janine] was paying attention to what she was doing; she was more cognizant of what she was doing in the morning, she was putting everything together, she had just got rejected, and you know, she’s like, ‘Okay, let me just take control of my life.’ And she was doing a different lip combo — she now used liner instead of just lip gloss. It was more purposeful this time.”
In terms of Janine’s hair, Frazier was asked to add a middle part to it by Brunson, with whom she also discussed possible ways of amending the character’s hairstyle without making any “drastic” changes to it. “That’s why this season, you see more of the defined curl pattern. She’s not just jumping out of bed and getting ready to go to school to teach these kids because she doesn’t have a lot of money,” the hair department head highlights. “I see her as being [a] resourceful type of girl, and she definitely displays that very well — even with taking that extra step and making sure that her hair was on point, because she wanted to be taken more seriously. She works for the [school district] now, her love interest has just rejected her. So it’s like, ‘Okay, well, instead of doing the side part, I’m doing a middle part.'”
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