The disturbing aesthetics of power in Matières Fécales’ FW26 “The One Percent” dismantles the codes of luxury and elitism

One year after their debut at Paris Fashion Week FW25, Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran envision for Matières Fécales the collection “The One Percent.” A project that reflects on power and explores the two sides of the same coin, moving between privilege and deprivation. The collection dissects and reinterprets the codes of luxury and wealth that much of society aspires to embody, highlighting both their allure and their contradictions. “The One Percent” stands as the natural continuation of the two designers’ graduate project, while at the same time marking an evolution: a more conscious gaze, at times ruthless, yet deeply human.

The collection is divided into three tableaux of Power: the power of archetypes, the power of community, and finally the power of the future. Each look tells part of the creative duo’s story and begins with a memory shared by Steven Raj Bhaskaran: «I vividly remember when I was a small child at the bus stop with my mother, grocery bags in hand, during the harsh Canadian winters. A luxury sports car would stop at the traffic light. I would approach and look through the tinted windows, enchanted by that seemingly perfect family traveling in comfort. Who knows, maybe Hannah was in that car with her family and, if so, she would insist that that comfort is not as glamorous as it appears from the outside».

The narrative begins precisely with this image, with what appears to be a bourgeois family, through the appropriation of elite class clothing; a form of lost glamour that reveals the painful obsession with beauty and the monstrous coldness that exists within elitism.

Power and humanity travel on two paths destined never to meet; yet, the looks of FW26 by Matières Fécales allow the viewer to glimpse a shared trajectory: the New Look is “fecalized,” in turn distorting glamour, to which guilt is added - an emotion that requires empathy, something power often distorts.

The “Guilt Gloves” are introduced - long white lambskin gloves with red-stained palms that not only perfectly dialogue with the heeled shoes designed with Louboutin, but also reveal the vulnerability and terror that exist at the top. Money, the ultimate symbol of power, materializes in the banknote-shaped masks worn by the models, paired with luxcore daywear looks crafted from fine fabrics such as double-face cashmere used for the coats, déchirer tweed for the suits, and refined Prince of Wales sourced from Manchester.

The second act of the show recalls the power of community of Matières Fécales, made up of those who share and embody its values. These translate into jersey hoodie-capes with elongated kangaroo pockets and, more broadly, into looks that oppose bourgeois energy, transforming contrast into an act of defiance against dominant norms. Wearing them are friends and family of the brand who, on this occasion, become the manifesto of a broader humanity: one that, in disturbingly conservative times, often feels fragile, if not outright powerless.

The third and final tableau, “The Immortals,” comes to life through Hannah Rose Dalton herself, who wears Matières Fécales’ New Look: a suit with an albino python cocoon skirt, rendered in the brand’s signature silhouette, paired with heelless skin boots. There is a segment of the one percent that has access to tools and life possibilities that most people do not possess.

The creative duo ventures into this territory of privilege through figures such as Bryan Johnson, who does not use such tools to improve his outer shell out of vanity, but is obsessed with his inner imperfections and the extension of human life. At the opposite extreme stands Michèle Lamy, friend and Parisian mother of the brand: rebellious, she transcends time and embraces the natural beauty of aging in the most glamorous way possible, wearing ash-gray goat fur sleeves and a distorted wool knit dress.

The apex of power is reached with Debra Shaw, who closes the show wearing the same look that Steven Raj Bhaskaran designed during his years of training: the interpretation of one of the most powerful silhouettes of all, that of an Elizabethan queen. An image that both crowns and seals a speculative narrative on the nature of the human being and on power, questioning how excess power can ultimately eclipse our very humanity. Perhaps Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran remind us of precisely this: that we are not born gods, but fallible and, at times, powerless human beings.