Jan McGill

Jan McGill is a costume designer, stylist and blog writer who has worked for many years in advertising, entertainment, and film. Jan began her career in film as an actress, then moved into casting. She found her love of character development led her to costume design, where she now uses those insights in developing characters via wardrobe design. She has dressed hundreds of actors for countless commercials along with Olympic athletes, celebrities, supermodels, film stars, rock and pop stars and- most gratefully- servicemen and women from every branch of the military. Jan started in advertising at a young age, working as a successful model in Europe and New York. Her first magazine cover was for Italian Vogue, followed by many more cover/beauty/fashion pages in American and European magazines. She was the face of several cosmetic lines, including Revlon, Clairol, and Max Factor. After acting in television and film, Jan then went to the other side of the camera, helping to cast several interesting films, which led her to her current home in costume design. She often writes about many of these experiences in her blog, thestylexpert. Jan has had the great fortune of working with some great commercial and film directors and many of the most respected photographers in the world, including Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, David Bailey, David Hamilton, Arthur Elgort, Albert Watson, Tony Scott, Joe Pytka, and Eric Saarinen, amongst many others. The legendary fashion editors Anna Wintour and Helen Gurley Brown both allowed her to be part of their editing process. Each of the above had a hand in forming her aesthetic viewpoint.