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Fashion
The Name On Every Celebrity’s Lips (& Hips) Is Matières Fécales
The glamorous, gothic label is true to this, not new to this.
Only July 19, all eyes were on Madonna’s former Hollywood Hills estate, Castillo de Lago, as yet another It-couple wedding was held, this one for Gabbriette and The 1975’s Matty Healy. Lots can be said about the wedding-guest attire, of course, but the main event was Gabbriette’s goth-girl dress. Instead of leaning classic and picking an expected designer, the princess of the weekend went for a tiered, frayed custom gown from the geniuses at Matières Fécales. It cemented what we already knew: The brand is having the biggest year since its inception some 12 years ago.
This major moment comes off the heels of what may be Zendaya’s best red-carpet look of all time at the New York premiere of The Odyssey. Stylist Law Roach had the brand’s angel-wing gown with a deep sweetheart neckline on hold for two years; after seeing it walk almost three years ago, it got its due shine with the ideal model. Elsewhere in the world, Matières Fécales’ decadent, opulent work has been seen on María Zardoya and Sarah Paulson at the Met Gala, with miles of tulle following the stars down the infamous museum steps; on Cannes jury president Demi Moore on another set of legendary stairs; and on the brand’s ultimate muse Lady Gaga on the Grammys red carpet.
If you’re wondering where the brand came from, rest assured it was not an overnight success story. The label was founded by Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran, who met in 2014 and started Matières Fécales (French for fecal matter) after feeling fed up with the wastefulness of the industry (hence the name). Their label juxtaposes dark, neo-Gothic glamour and hardcore streetwear style with the opulence and fabrications of traditional red-carpet looks and couture runways. This duality has made them cult legends, and just last year, they were welcomed into the Dover Street Market family to receive mentorship and financial support from president Adrian Joffe (other labels in the stable include Vaquera, ERL, and Torishéju). This let them put on their first runway show in Paris, and as an unofficial part of Couture Week in 2025, the brand took off with new eyes on their romantic, slightly f*cked-up (complimentary) designs.
The label is taking it all in stride and also sticking to their guns — namely, by dressing those on the margins of culture while also indulging in dressing A-listers. For drag queen Sasha Colby’s one-night-only show “Dolls Follies” at the Folies Bergère theater in Paris, Matières Fécales dressed and photographed 17 trans icons in their designs, including Amanda Lepore and Gigi Goode. It was a striking statement to make during Pride, and not one that was done as a good-faith gesture, but as a strong sign of community and their roots in the queer nightlife scene.
It takes not only guts but real know-how to dress celebrities across the age and body-type spectrum, but the joy they take in their sisterhoods is evident. Each of its Instagram captions focuses on its atelier workers that hand-crafted each look, and through each new milestone for the brand, you can tell that Dalton and Bhaskaran are not only having fun, but relishing in the moment. It’s only up from here for the fecal-matter geniuses, and we can’t wait to see who they dress next. (Charli xcx, please?)