Plaukai
Francesca Allen
2025 — Lithuania
About this series
Once a year, hundreds of women with thousands of feet of hair flood into a Lithuanian arena for the World’s Longest Hair competition – a folkloric beauty pageant where obsession, tradition and identity converge.
Drawn to the surreal spectacle, British photographer Francesca Allen travelled to the event (known locally as Konkursas Pasaulio Ilgaplaukes) with a Lithuanian friend to document the competition firsthand. Her resulting series, Plaukai (Lithuanian for “hair”), captures some of the nearly 200 participants – from young girls with untouched locks, to older women whose hair pools at their feet – as they walk the runway, get measured by gloved judges and take part in a ritualistic finale that must be seen to be believed.
Photographer: Francesca Allen
Nationality: British
Based in: London, England
Website: francesca-allen.co.uk
Instagram: @francesca_allen_
Francesca Allen (b. 1993, England) is a photographer and director, known for her intimate depictions of girlhood and the often complicated coming-of- age experience. She has shot for magazines such as Dazed, British Journal of Photography, i-D, and American Vogue; and worked for brands including Adidas, SSENSE, Nike, On Running, Chopova Lowena, and Calvin Klein. Her work has been exhibited in institutions including London’s Somerset House andThe Photographer’s Gallery and she has published the photo books, ‘I’d like to get to know you’ (2022), and ‘Aya’ (2018). Francesca currently lives in London.