Matières Fécales Takes the Square: A Revolution in Three Acts Photos Filippo Fior/Gorunway.com

Matières Fécales Spring 2027: People Have the Power

Matières Fécales spring 2027 ready-to-wear runway, fashion show & collection review. Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran took over Place de La République for their richly allegorical show.

Matières Fécales Takes the Square: A Revolution in Three Acts photos Filippo Fior/Gorunway.com

Dear Shaded Viewers, Some shows you watch, and some you feel. I have been friends with Hannah and Steven since they first arrived in Paris. I watched them build Matières Fécales from nothing, with more nerve and vision than money. So last night on the Place de la République, the first fashion show ever held there, I wasn’t only watching a show. I was watching two friends make history. Last season, The One Percent came from Hannah Rose Dalton’s world. This season, The Ninety Nine Percent belongs to Steven Raj Bhaskaran. “This is not just a collection; it’s my life story,” he writes. Ninety-nine models of colour wore ninety-nine looks by a designer of colour. “The casting wasn’t just a creative choice,” Steven explains. “It is a reflection of all the people I grew up with in low-income housing.” He chose the square with intent: “a sacred place for the city to voice their opinions and celebrate togetherness. It’s a place of revolution.” He also sees it as the perfect stage for “a group of immigrants like us.” I have lived in Paris for many years, and I have never seen République look like this. FAMILY. It opened with a drapé look honouring Steven’s mother, Grace, who was born in Guyana to an Indian family and left school at nine to help raise her seven siblings. A procession of white followed. It echoed a childhood that passed through Hindu, Christian, Muslim and Mormon households in Montreal. There were déchiré linen suits with leather ties, thawb-inspired shirts with the house’s cross detail, micro-pleated chiffon skirts with modest headscarves, and curved-heel flip-flops made with Christian Louboutin. The section closed with Steven walking beside his mother, his sister Shandeal and his niece, all in white. He remembers the four of them once sleeping on one mattress while he sketched them “in fantasy couture designs.” Having known Steven all these years, I saw that dream walk out onto the square in real life, and I cried. TRIBE. Then came the revolution. There were military tulle tweed sets, decaying lamb leather capes and unravelled khaki knits. The new Golden Touch gloves stood for “the talents and gifts of minorities that are often exploited by the one percent.” This was Steven’s POC punk tribe, pierced and spiked in cross-zip leather and new “Stomper” combat boots. “I was too punk for my family, too brown for my punk friends,” he says. The section closed with three women in twisted gowns of red, white and blue: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. GODS. The couture finale was pure hope. A déchiré skirt suit was cut from cotton hand-woven in Burkina Faso, and saris hand-embroidered by Tilfi in Varanasi were reimagined as decayed 1950s ballgowns. “My message is clear: diversity is power.” Then the final image: models carried life-like billionaire figures on their backs around the statue of the République. Nina Simone’s “Tomorrow Is My Turn” rang out over Paris. It was confrontational, it was magnificent, and I had goosebumps. And yes, we waited a full hour for Rihanna. When she finally arrived in a blazing blood-orange co-ord, the square erupted. After a show like this, I don’t even mind. Steven calls the world he and Hannah have built “our manifesto of liberty.” From their first days in Paris to taking over République, I have seen every step, and I couldn’t be prouder. Tomorrow is their turn. Tonight already was. Bravo, my dears. A portion of sales supports La Maison d’Allanah, which helps LGBTQIA+ refugees find housing in France. Later, Diane