Matières Fécales: when couture becomes chaos & chaos becomes couture

Camz
6 days ago
3 min read

A manifesto of difference

“Watching her walk out into the world every day, receiving such judgmental reactions towards her expression, makes me feel sad sometimes,” wrote Steven Raj Bhaskaran in the show notes about his creative and life partner, Hannah Rose Dalton. It was less a sentimental preface than a statement of intent. In a world where “being different isn’t rewarded,” Matières Fécales is here to make difference the new standard. And so, in a gilded salon of Place Vendôme, amid ornate ceilings and meticulously arranged roses, the duo once again staged a confrontation between the baroque and the bizarre, between haute couture and high discomfort.

This was only their second runway show, but already it felt like a cult gathering. Their audience, a vibrant assembly of the beautifully strange, the wonderfully mismatched, and the radically expressive, reflected the label’s world : part cyberpunk congregation, part romantic resistance. You could feel the warmth, almost tenderness, circulating among the crowd, as if everyone was collectively saying : “You can stare, but we’ll keep walking.”

Deconstructing couture, literally

Let us be clear : if Christian Dior had designed the Bar jacket after a sleepless week and a nervous breakdown, it might have looked like this. Strong shoulders, rough hems, and that delicious tension between refinement and ruin. The references were unmistakable, yet deliberately sabotaged. Some pieces seemed to emerge from the debris of fashion history : frayed tweed resembling a Chanel dream turned nightmare, asymmetric cuts daring gravity to intervene, and fabrics that looked both tortured and loved.

The Barbie pink accents punctuating the black ensembles were not here to please Instagram. They were a tongue-in-cheek nod to the “Rose” in Hannah Rose, a subtle rebellion against the tyranny of perfect femininity. Every shade of pink felt like a protest ; a whisper that said, “Beauty isn’t polite.”

Then came the accessories. If last season’s looming-shoulder handbag seemed impractical, this new iteration was proudly absurd, defying ergonomics with elegance. Shoes, co-created with Christian Louboutin, walked that fine line between sculpture and medieval torture device. Some models visibly suffered, wobbling across the parquet floor, clutching at the marble fireplace for balance, a moment both tragic and comedic. The iconic Lady Gaga also adopted the shoes from this collection !

Roses and rebellion

Roses were everywhere. Draped, stitched, suspended. A Stephen Jones headpiece featured a single fabric rose dangling from ribbon and chain right in front of the wearer’s nose, evoking a plague doctor’s beak – romantic, yes, but with a hint of apocalyptic irony. It was beauty with a fever, couture with a cough.

And then came the emotional crescendo. Model Nikki Lilly, who lives with high-flow craniofacial arteriovenous malformation (AVM), walked in a princess-like gown : a full tulle skirt, a tightly corseted bodice, and roses along the neckline.

She did not “fit” into a conventional standard of beauty ; she redefined it. Her presence, calm yet magnetic, transformed the room’s gaze from voyeurism to admiration. For once, fashion’s obsession with difference was met with authenticity, not artifice.

Couture with consequences

There was something both chaotic and tender about the whole presentation. Matières Fécales does not design clothes to flatter ; they design to challenge. Every hem, every spike, every awkward silhouette seemed to question the viewer : “Do you actually like beauty, or do you just like comfort disguised as taste ?”

It was a show that made couture feel alive again ; or at least dangerously awake. In a landscape of commercial calm and minimalist safety, Matières Fécales dares to scream. Not for shock value, but because silence has gone out of style.

The poetry of provocation

As the final model disappeared behind the velvet curtain, the scent of crushed roses lingered in the air, mingled with sweat, perfume, and quiet disbelief. Place Vendôme hadn’t looked this unsettled in a long time.

Matières Fécales doesn’t just make fashion. They make conversation pieces that refuse to behave, stitched with irony, intellect, and a touch of pain. And maybe that’s the point. Because in a world obsessed with blending in, the most radical thing you can do is to stand out ; even if it hurts your feet.

After all, true couture has never been about comfort. It has always been about conviction. And conviction, at Matières Fécales, comes with shoulder pads, pink rage, and the courage to walk through laughter, stares, and the occasional gasp ; gracefully, defiantly, and always in heels that are just a bit too high.

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