PARIS FASHION WEEK: SS26 RUNWAY
MATIÈRES FÉCALES' DYSTOPIA
GABRIEL MEALOR-PRITCHARD GIVES HIS THOUGHTS ON EMERGING BRAND, MATIÈRES FÉCALES' SOPHMORE SS26 COLLECTION, "HANNAH".
Front Cover Image by Mirella Malaguti
If you're a lover of the dystopian and the avant-garde, then Fecal Matter, better known by its francophone moniker Matières Fécales, was absolutely where you should have been during this season’s Paris Fashion Week. Few labels in the current landscape embrace spectacle with such unflinching sincerity, and fewer still manage to do so while holding fast to a philosophy that feels entirely their own.
There’s something remarkably refreshing about witnessing a brand so unapologetically produce work that is quintessentially theirs, art that reflects the extremes and beauties their founders exude. Equally refreshing is seeing an emerging label staple themselves onto the Paris Fashion Week schedule with something startlingly new, an offering that feels like a shock to the system in the best possible way. In a sea of polished commercialism, Fecal Matter is a necessary rupture.
Courtesy of Matières Fécales
I can vividly recall the first time I saw work by Fecal Matter: the full-length skin imitation high heel boots that played tricks on your mind, embodying the post-human aesthetic the brand has become synonymous with. I was in awe. I’d never seen anything like it. To witness their evolution unfold into SS26 has been nothing short of magnificent. As social media personality and fashion commentator iDeserveCouture aptly called it, theirs was the “Met Gala for the outcasts.” Guests arrived in looks that reflected their personalities best; in other words, they came as themselves, unapologetically. Among those in attendance were Michele Lamy, Ashnikko, and FKA Twigs, each bringing their own eccentric flair to the event.
The show marked their sophomore runway outing as a namesake brand, with the collection aptly titled after co-founder Hannah Rose herself. Hannah unfolded as a bold interplay between ready-to-wear and couture, anchored by Fecal Matter’s now-signature extreme heels, this time realised in collaboration with Christian Louboutin. The silhouettes evoked otherworldly forms, sculpted to suggest extraterrestrial elegance, while towering headpieces, crafted by milliner Stephen Jones, alluded to regal crowns, fusing alien with aristocratic.
Courtesy of Matières Fécales
Yet beneath this grandeur lay something darker. The presentation took on the atmosphere of a masquerade: models concealed their features with eye and nose-bridge coverings dyed to match their garments, transforming faces into seamless extensions of the clothing itself. The effect was at once unsettling and mesmerising; an unmistakable hallmark of Fecal Matter’s aesthetic, where discomfort becomes beauty, and beauty, something entirely unfamiliar.
For those of you who aren’t aware, the backstory of the brand is that the pair of minds behind this cult label, Hannah Rose and Steven Raj, first met while studying fashion design in Montréal. What began as a creative kinship quickly evolved into something deeper, both personally and professionally. Falling in love, they crafted a brand that mirrors who they are as individuals: refined glamour and extreme individuality. Their work reads like a commitment to reshaping what beauty and fashion identity might look like in a post-digital age.
It's clear, Matieres Fecales has not only outdone themselves, but in my opinion, the entirety of PFW along with it. It's getting pretty tedious expecting the same thing time and time again from certain brands. The difference with FM is that they always bring you something new, from their early days back in 2014 when the brand came about, and still to this day, we were wowed yet again.
Bon Travail Matières Fécales, vous êtes la nouvelle vague d'innovation de la mode.