When U.S. figure skaters Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito take to the ice to compete at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, they all wear dresses designed by the same woman.
The designer’s name is Lisa McKinnon, and she’s outfitted all three women competing for Team USA in singles figure skating events, plus two American ice dancers and two South Korean skaters at these Olympics. Collectively, the seven athletes are set to compete in at least 13 costumes from Lisa McKinnon Designs, a Los Angeles-based studio that McKinnon launched in 2014.
McKinnon works between 40 and 60 hours per week, regardless of the season, she tells CNBC Make It. She and her five employees handmade nearly 700 costumes, for skaters across every discipline and level, in 2025, she estimates. The business charges $90 per hour, and its custom costumes for high-level skaters typically cost between $4,000 and $8,000 apiece, she says. (McKinnon declined to share the business’s total annual revenue.)
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Most clients, regardless of their desired final product, have to request costumes at least six months in advance, and McKinnon’s team often works on a costume up until the deadline, she says. The timeline is largely due to demand, and to budget time for costume emergencies or special requests.
