Double Click: Twin Photographers in the Golden Age of Magazines

By Carol Kino

A dazzling dual biography of two trailblazing women behind the lens during fashion’s golden age. In Double Click, arts journalist Carol Kino brings to life the remarkable story of Frances McLaughlin-Gill and Kathryn Abbe—identical twins who became pioneering photographers in 1930s and ’40s New York. Their work helped shape the visual language of modern fashion and women’s magazines, yet their names have largely faded from history—until now.

Book Synopsis

Frances and Kathryn McLaughlin were born to create. From their early days at Pratt Institute to their rise as in-demand photographers for Vogue, Glamour, Charm, and Mademoiselle, the twins captured the spirit of a generation. Frances became known for her streetwise, cinema verité style, while Kathryn’s surrealist portraits defined the era’s “career girl” aesthetic. Kino’s deeply researched narrative weaves their personal and professional lives into a vivid portrait of wartime New York, proto-feminist ambition, and the fleeting window of opportunity for women in the arts before postwar domesticity took hold.

Perfect For

• Fans of fashion, photography, and cultural history
• Readers of Ninth Street Women and The Barbizon
• Artists and creatives inspired by women’s untold stories
• Collectors of midcentury New York nostalgia

Advance Praise

“A fascinating cultural history... Kino paints a textured portrait of artists who helped transform the way Americans consumed fashion and media.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Carol Kino has interwoven a biography of the McLaughlins with an authoritative, detailed history of fashion, the art world and photography in midcentury New York.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“A monument to talent and creativity... an essential read for anyone curious about the intersection of gender, art, and media.”
—Musée Magazine

About the Author

Carol Kino is a journalist and cultural critic whose writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Town & Country. A former fellow at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center, Kino specializes in art, artists, and the stories behind the images that shape our world. Double Click is her first book.

Other Related Titles

• Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel
• The Barbizon by Paulina Bren
• What Artists Wear by Charlie Porter
• Women in Clothes by Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits, and Leanne Shapton

Product Details

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication Date: March 5, 2024
• Format: Hardcover / eBook / Audiobook
• ISBN: 9781982113049
• Pages: 432