Frances McLaughlin-Gill
| Frances McLaughlin-Gill | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Frances McLaughlin September 22, 1919 Brooklyn, New York, U.S |
| Died | October 23, 2014 (aged 95) |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Franny McLaughlin |
| Occupation | photographer |
| Years active | 1941-2011 |
| Known for | first female photographer of Vogue |
| Parent(s) | Frank & Kathryn McLaughlin |
| Relatives |
Kathryn Abbe (twin sister) |
Frances McLaughlin-Gill (1919-2014) was an American photographer and the first female fashion photographer under contract with Vogue. After two decades in the fashion industry, she worked as an independent film producer for a decade making commercials and films. One of her films won the Gold Medal at the 1969 International Films and TV Festival of New York. In her later career, she published several collections both with her sister and in collaboration with other authors.
Frances McLaughlin was born on September 22, 1919 in Brooklyn, New York to Kathryn and Frank McLaughlin. She was the twin sister of Kathryn Abbe. Her father died when the twins were three months old and the family relocated to Wallingford, Connecticut where they completed their schooling. Frances graduated from Lyman Hall High School as the class valedictorian and Kathryn was salutatorian in 1937. The twins then enrolled in Pratt Institute to study photography, graduating in 1941. That same year, both entered the Prix de Paris contest sponsored by Vogue and were among the five finalists.
McLaughlin began working as a stylist at Montgomery Ward and as a photography assistant until 1943. That year, photographer Toni Frissell introduced her to Alexander Liberman, Vogue′s art director, who signed McLaughlin under contract, becoming their first contracted female fashion photographer. Liberman thought McLaughlin had a fresh approach. To him, her directness and spontaneity made McLaughlin an ideal photographer, because her images were less posed and more natural than many fashion photographers working at that time. She began on shoots with junior models working for Vogue′s Glamour Magazine which was aimed at younger viewers and was able to capture movement in ways that had not been done before. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, McLaughlin produced some of the strongest images that appeared in the American edition of Vogue. In addition to fashion photographs, her images included celebrity photos, as well as still lifes for editorials and covers of House & Garden. In 1948, she married the photographer Leslie Gill, who was known as one of the first photographers to use color film.
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