When Zendaya graced the “Odyssey” premiere in New York, her ethereal, feathered white gown captivated onlookers. Yet, the brand behind the angelic creation, as revealed by her stylist Law Roach, was anything but delicate: “Fecal Matter.”
This striking strapless gown was the work of Matières Fécales — which translates directly to Fecal Matter — a Paris-based, high-end fashion house founded in Montreal over a decade ago. The brand, seemingly ubiquitous overnight, is the brainchild of design duo Steven Raj Bhaskaran and Hannah Rose Dalton.
They have consistently aimed to subvert conventional beauty standards through their distinctive alien-like personal style, characterized by dramatic white makeup, shaved heads and eyebrows, and their signature skin boots designed to resemble realistic feet.
The designers, who began their journey selling creations on Depop as students at Collège LaSalle Montréal before ascending to Paris Fashion Week, have stated that their provocative name reflects their perspective on the fashion industry.
Dalton recalled to Vogue last year, “There’s no other word for it, but how can we say it in a glamorous way? So we’re like, ‘fecal matter’ is the scientific word for it,” adding that translating it into French “sounds way more glamorous.” Bhaskaran further explained on the “Fashion Neurosis” podcast in March that the name was also intended to “challenge the wasteful side of fashion.” A representative for Matières Fécales stated the designers were unavailable for comment.
Despite its visceral moniker, the brand has garnered a significant following among tastemakers, from Lady Gaga to Kylie Jenner. Celebrity stylist Brad Goreski told The Associated Press, “There is this beautiful tension in their work between the finesse and the decaying, and the strong and the soft.”
After years of cultivating a cult following, Matières Fécales was brought under the wing of Dover Street Market in 2024, following an initial meeting with its president, Adrian Joffe, backstage at a Madonna concert. The global retail and concept stores provide emerging brands with comprehensive development support, spanning production, distribution, and sales.
Kristen Bateman, a veteran fashion and culture writer who has attended all three of the designers’ Paris Fashion Week shows, attributes their ascent to the industry’s yearning for novelty. “If you’re looking at the high-fashion brands like Chanel and Dior, it all sort of starts to blend together,” she observed. “And this feels like it’s in its own category. … You can’t replicate it.”
Milan Tanedjikov, a design teacher at Collège LaSalle Montréal, witnessed Dalton and Bhaskaran’s early rise and believes they have now achieved a balance between their artistic vision and commercial fashion. “They have created this, like, very interesting organism together,” he remarked.
The designers were invited to the official calendar for Paris Fashion Week last year, where they debuted “The Other,” a collection described as an ode to fearless identity, featuring a collaboration that paired their distinctive curved-heel design with Christian Louboutin’s iconic red sole. Tanedjikov added, “At their very core, what drives them is absolute freedom of expression, and they want to push the boundaries of what is human.”
In March, during Paris Fashion Week, the duo unveiled “The One Percent,” a collection where models theatrically strutted with red paint on white opera gloves and wore eye masks crafted from dollar bills. The collection, as they shared on Instagram, aimed to showcase how “power affects us all.”
Augustin Maunier, Dover Street Market’s director of brand development, praised their rapid success: “What they were able to build in such a small amount of time is really insane in terms of world building and creating their world. There’s real storytelling behind it.”
The show’s theme offered a stark contrast to the billionaires often seated front row at other fashion week events. At this year’s Met Gala, actor Sarah Paulson wore a voluminous, gray, distressed ball gown from “The One Percent,” complete with the eye-covering money mask.
Goreski also drew from “The One Percent” for Demi Moore’s wardrobe as a Cannes Film Festival jury member, seeking a fresh look for her. Moore’s frayed, full-volume, Barbie-pink ball gown with a distressed bow marked a departure from her usual structured attire.
Goreski noted that in two decades of dressing Moore, she rarely opted for a full-skirt “cupcake” shape, but she was captivated by the designers’ artistic vision and narrative. “They’re designing clothes for themselves,” he said. “That’s authentically them, but they’re bringing it to like a whole other audience.”
Early supporters of the brand fittingly included boundary-pushing performers Madonna and Lady Gaga. Madonna even invited them to DJ on her 2023 tour, and they have crafted custom looks for Gaga’s live performances, including Coachella.
At this year’s Grammys, Gaga wore a high-neck, feathered, black gown from the designers, presenting a dark angel counterpart to Zendaya’s heavenly “Odyssey” ensemble.
Now, their bold designs are extending beyond red carpets. In a television advertisement for Dunkin’, Kylie Jenner sported a blush-pink, satin, structured blazer with exaggerated shoulder pads, a designer choice that amused online observers previously unfamiliar with the brand’s name.
The designers also created a distressed Victorian-style dress for model Gabbriette Bechtel’s wedding to musician Matty Healy, a first for the brand. With their next Paris Fashion Week show slated for September, fashion connoisseurs eagerly anticipate what Matières Fécales will present next.
Fashion commentator Hanan Besovic, known online as @Ideservecouture, articulated the sentiment: “We’re rooting for them because they’re younger designers who have something to say.”
