CREATIVE CROSSROADS: MATIÈRES FÉCALES AND POSTHUMANISM

INTRODUCTION

Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran have spent over a decade building a design-driven world that bends the binary and celebrates extreme individuality under their brand Matières Fécales. The Parisian label specializes in fine-tailored suiting and extravagant silhouettes, with its provocative styling sparking social commentary around themes such as wealth inequality, billionaire culture, and systemic privilege.

Throughout each collection, post-humanism has remained a common denominator in their creative process. Their brand ethos of challenging traditional glamour to evoke new feelings and experiences is laced with prosthetics, extra-terrestrial makeup, and BDSM culture. French for “fecal matter”, Matières Fécales represents the beautiful and unearthly realms of the human experience.

EARLY EXPERIMENTATION

The design pair delved into body modification early on in their career with the experimentation of flesh-like footwear in October 2018. Collaborating with LA artist Sarah Sitkin, Dalton and Bhaskaran’s Sskin Boots were made of a special silicone that imitated an extension of the foot. A human mutation, the skin boot featured a baby fledgling horn on the back calf with rounded toes that kiss a clear platform. Made to resemble an extension of the leg, the boot triggered a polarizing response in the media, with both people admiring and questioning the $10,000 boots. What was once a photoshopped figment of the pair’s imagination that intrigued the internet had become a wearable piece of art that laid the foundation for their unapologetic world.

A SIGNATURE STYLE

When Matières Fécales dresses a body, they don't stop at the neckline. Makeup and hair play an essential part of creating an unforgettable look that sparks conversation and feelings you’ve never felt before. The brand’s second skin includes a blinding white foundation as the canvas eliminating all flesh and humanity from the neck up. Sharp and heavy eye makeup creates depth around the center of the face while darkness seeps into the cornea with blackout contacts. The model’s entire cranium is exposed with minimal to no hair. A warm pink or red hue is smudged into the lips to finish the brand’s signature look. The pair reflected on their Spring/Summer 2026 show looks sharing, “This isn’t just a beauty look for us, it’s our identity. We don’t use makeup to hide our flaws, we use it to reveal our soul through transformation everyday.” This alien-like aesthetic creates a powerful juxtaposition between the extravagant couture tailored and draped across the body and the identity that carries it through the world.

 

 

BDSM CULTURE

Matières Fécales does not shy away from the provocative or hidden subcultures of society. The design pair has often pulled in aspects of BDSM and fetish culture into their show productions and styling to create deeper stories around their garments. The two released a series of graphic t-shirts with printed photographs of French artist Pierre Molinier’s work for their Spring/Summer 2026 collection. Known for his erotic imagery, Molinier’s surrealism allowed us a peek into the dark and fantastical. Alongside this imagery, the same collection introduced gleaming leather masks to conceal the eye and restrictive chokers that climbed up the neck with a silver ring placed dead in the center. Notes of BDSM continue through look 14 of their Fall/Winter 2026 collection. This look featured a luxurious pearl ball gag wrapped around the model's mouth and skull. The unexpected accessory juxtaposed a cream tweed set and a politely pointed heel that accompanied the look. These kinks allow the audience to access unlimited freedom and expression through restriction.

 

 

NEVER CONFORM

The exigence that birthed Matières Fécales was Dalton and Bhaskaran’s critical observation of the fashion industry while attending LaSalle College in Montréal, Canada. Together, the pair has created an intense and unsettling discourse on the definition of beauty. Themes of post-humanism point to a new future of fashion and society; one that is inclusive and liberating.

 

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