Paris Photo 2025: Chloé presents ‘Konkursas’ by Francesca Allen

At Paris Photo 2025, Chloé returns with a striking new exhibition that merges fashion, art, and female representation through the lens of Francesca Allen’s photography. Under the artistic direction of Chemena Kamali, the Maison continues its Chloé Arts programme — a platform dedicated to amplifying contemporary female photographers and empowering women’s voices in visual culture.

Francesca Allen photography: a celebration of modern femininity

Francesca Allen’s series, Konkursas, will be presented at the Grand Palais Éphémère in Paris from 13th to 16th November 2025. It captures the surreal world of Lithuania’s annual World’s Longest Hair Competition, a folkloric beauty pageant where tradition, obsession and identity intertwine.

Allen, a London-based artist known for her intimate depictions of girlhood and coming-of-age narratives, traveled to Kaunas to document the event firsthand. Her photographs portray nearly 200 women with cascading hair as they walk the runway, are measured by gloved judges, and take part in a ritualistic finale. Seen through her lens, the competition becomes more than a spectacle — it becomes a meditation on ritual, community, and the construction of femininity.

Each image blends tenderness and strength. Often photographed from behind, the women appear both anonymous and powerful — they are the embodiment of patience, beauty and endurance. Rather than portraying them as contestants, Allen presents these subjects as custodians of identity and history, connected through shared cultural gestures.

Paris Photo: Chloé’s vision through art

Through Konkursas, Chloé reaffirms its commitment to supporting contemporary female photographers who challenge the boundaries of artistic expression. The exhibition is part of Chloé Arts, an ongoing initiative launched to bridge fashion and the visual arts. It provides a platform for women artists to explore themes of individuality, freedom, and femininity in dialogue with the Maison’s values.

Under Chemena Kamali’s direction, the collaboration embodies the essence of Chloé: soft strength, emotional authenticity and a celebration of womanhood in all its complexity. The Konkursas project will also be published as a book by Steidl in collaboration with Chloé Arts, bringing the series to life as a permanent work of art and a continuing dialogue.

Contemporary female photographers and the Chloé Arts mission

By presenting Francesca Allen photography at Paris Photo 2025, Chloé not only celebrates a new generation of visual storytellers but also redefines what it means to capture femininity today — as a living, breathing collaboration between artist, subject, and society.