Matières Fécales returned to Paris Fashion Week with their sophomore collection, presented at Place Vendôme and titled “Hannah”. The show was conceived as a tribute to co-founder Hannah Rose Dalton, whose uncompromising presence and expression have long been central to the label’s identity. As Steven Raj Bhaskaran explained in the show notes, Dalton’s everyday experience of navigating public scrutiny and intolerance inspired a collection rooted in the idea of resilience and the right to be different. The result was a visual love letter that challenged prevailing standards of beauty while affirming the brand’s core value of freedom of expression.
The collection unfolded as a series of couture subversions. There were rough-hemmed riffs on Dior’s Bar jacket, frayed tweeds that recalled Chanel in disrepair, and corseted tulle gowns that walked the line between romantic and confrontational. Black dominated the palette, punctuated by bursts of vivid pink, a direct nod to Dalton’s name and a motif that functioned both as ornament and critique of conventional ideals. Roses appeared throughout, whether appliquéd on bodices, suspended in Stephen Jones headpieces, or transformed into accessories that pushed beauty into surrealist territory. The effect was one of deliberate tension: refinement undermined by rawness, tradition destabilized by distortion.
Casting underscored the message. The show featured models across a spectrum of bodies and identities, including Nikki Lilly, who has a craniofacial condition and who closed the show in a rose-adorned gown with poise and authority. In her, as in others, the designers made visible the idea that beauty is not contingent on conformity but on presence. That choice amplified the clothes, grounding them in lived reality rather than spectacle alone.
If the accessories sometimes stole the spotlight, Christian Louboutin collaborated on shoes that, while visually striking, proved punishing for some of the models to walk in. The intention was clear: to destabilize the comfort of the viewer and push against the polish expected at Place Vendôme. The tension between elegance and unease was not always resolved, but it underscored the point of the show. This was fashion that insisted on being felt, even when uncomfortable.
With “Hannah”, Matières Fécales demonstrated an ability to translate personal narrative into a collection that feels urgent and socially attuned. It is less about establishing trends than about asserting space for those who exist outside of them. The show affirmed the label’s position as one of the most unorthodox voices on the Paris schedule, offering a vision of beauty that embraces difference without compromise.
Photos: Daniele Oberrauch / Go Runway, Cover photo by: Eva Losada @eva.al.desnudo
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Highlights from the Collection
