FECAL MATTER STAR ON THE COVER OF NUMÉRO NETHERLANDS’ FANTASY

interview by MARIA MOTA

HANNAH ROSE DALTON and STEVEN RAJ BHASKARAN first met in a pattern-making class in Montreal. “From the outside, we were like water and oil, people you’d never imagine connecting,” Hannah remembers. One day, they happened to be seated next to each other at the sewing machines and started talking. “It was the first time I met someone who saw the world the way I did,” she recalls. “We looked at the industry the same too. Glamorous on the surface, but with so many problems underneath.” That first conversation over 12 years ago was the foundation of everything. From that moment on, they were inseparable. 

Fast forward to Paris Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2025: with ADRIAN JOFFE and DOVER STREET MARKET behind them, MATIÈRES FÉCALES debuted their first collection. “I’m an energy person, and I felt his kindness and curiosity,” Hannah says of Adrian, recalling the first time they met, backstage at a Madonna concert in Paris. “It felt like we had been asking the universe to bring us someone, somehow, somewhere, to help our vision come to life. And the universe really brought us the best of the best.”

Matières Fécales is unapologetically out there. They represent the next generation of fashion provocateurs, a name that demands attention, and a force redefining what fashion can and should be. Between grotesque and glamorous, human and alien, fantasy and flesh, they have built a language entirely their own.

all clothing by MATIÈRES FÉCALES
all shoes by CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN for MATIÈRES FÉCALES

Fecal Matter isn’t exactly a name you forget. What was the moment you decided this was the name for your vision?

We went back to that initial conversation at the sewing machines. The waste, the lack of diversity, the bad working conditions for garment makers, the cracks of the industry, all of it. We wanted a name that didn’t hide it, but forced people to look. We wanted our brand to say something, to stand for what we want people to understand. In the end, Matières Fécales perfectly represents what we want to express.

Your debut collection, The Other, felt like a world of its own. How did it capture your vision?

The Other came from that feeling of being different. The collection is part of the story we have been trying to tell, an evolution of a world we have been building. There aren’t any characters in it. It’s real people, real friends, real family members who embody our vision of beauty.

As a signature element, you’ll notice that the cross-seam runs through every design. Close to the body, it transforms a symbol of conformity, reflecting our confining religious background, into a mark of defiance. Each piece we create is a visual manifesto of who we are.

In line with this issue’s theme of FANTASY, what’s one fantasy you’ve never dared to materialise in public, yet?

To blend in without having to blend in.

READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW IN OUR PRINT ISSUE #13.

TEAM CREDITS:

talent FECAL MATTER
photography FILIP KOLUDROVIC
hair LAURIE B DERAPS
makeup MARIA OLSSON
transport OLIVIA GHALIOUNGUI
photography assistants GABRIEL DRIOT & LEO BARANGER
editor TIMOTEJ LETONJA
interview MARIA MOTA
cover design ARTHUR ROELOFFZEN