Fecal Matter (Matières Fécales)
Nobody could ever ignore a brand named Matières Fécales, French for Fecal Matter. At the highest mountains of fashion in Paris, Milan, and New York, surrounded by the Titans like Hermès and Gucci, Matières Fécales showcases their work alongside them. You might be wondering: What kind of brand would carry a name like Matières Fécales?
A brand about personal expression, Matières Fécales demonstrates the struggle that people outside the status quo feel when the reflection they see in the mirror does not align with their inner self. Their attempts at self-expression are stifled and pushed down by the people around them. Steven Raj Bhaskaran and Hannah Rose Dalton, the founders of Matières Fécales, both dealt with discrimination in their own lives. Steven was born into a low-income, highly religious Mormon environment where his only form of expression were his drawings. In those early days, Steven says that he was drawing himself and Hannah—two androgynous, bald, powerful figures, before ever meeting her and before deciding to shave his own head. Hannah came from a very different upper-class background where she went through 12 years of an all-girls private school. Here, Hannah states, there was no sense of “I,” no way to express who you were, and, if you dared to explore, you were immediately punished. Every girl wore the same uniform, learned the same teachings about purity, and was forced to fit into this ideal mold.
Hannah and Steven met at LaSalle College in Montreal in 2018 while studying fashion design. At first glance, their opinions of each other were not positive. Steven thought Hannah came from too different of a background for them to ever really connect over anything, and Hannah believed that Steven was far too disorganized. However, through their group projects, they found a uniting force within each other: that same repression of something “other” than what was allowed. That same desire to explore their identities and share them to a world that would not reject them for it. This equal desire, in addition to their hate for the working conditions present all across the fashion industry, led them to start Matières Fécales, a name that represents their distaste for the current norms in the fashion industry, as well as their desire to represent fashion in a way that is not culturally acceptable.
Matières Fécales began as a Depop-only brand, selling their one-off creations on the online marketplace and using social media as a way to garner presence in the fashion space. This continued for several years as they gained a large following and built their brand identity. This culminated in 2018 with the viral release of their “Skin Heels,” originally released in a photoshopped image. They were contacted by another artist who specialized in silicone recreations of the human body: Sarah Sitkin, who transformed the photoshopped image into real boots.
One thing you might notice in the picture above is all the disgusted and surprised faces of the onlookers witnessing the Skin Heels. This general air of disgust towards their appearances and forms of self-expression is found in many of the images that Steven and Hannah post. This distaste unfortunately resulted in many negative and extreme actions being taken against them, such as death threats through social media, removal from Beijing’s Forbidden City, and being violently assaulted on a bus in Paris.
Matières Fécales is an extremely unique and creative, controversial brand, which was clearly seen during their debut collection at Paris Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2025. The fashion critics loved their show, singing praises about how different it was while not sacrificing quality in terms of tailoring. But, once again, public opinion was much more controversial, with some people praising their showcase of body positivity and beauty in all forms, and others labeling it demonic and shouting that the Devil had risen in Paris. Matières Fécales has since had several other successful shows (such as their recent Fall/Winter 2026 collection) and will continue to make clothes for those who are brave enough to redefine what the world marks as “beautiful.”
Written by Jonathan Herrera, Design: Evie Morehead