Women's Lifestyle July 23, 2026 0 Comments

The Controversial Designers Behind the Most Stunning Red Carpet Dresses—Why Everyone’s Whispering Their Name

Ever wonder what it takes for a fashion brand with a name like Matières Fécales—yes, that’s French for “fecal matter”—to soar from the edgy corners of Montreal’s underground to the dazzling red carpets of New York and Cannes? Last week alone, Zendaya rocked a breathtaking white gown with feathered wings from this audacious label at The Odyssey premiere, while just days later, model Gabbriette said “I do” in a custom silk taffeta masterpiece by the same creators. It’s not your everyday fairytale, right? These designers, Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran, have flipped the script on luxury fashion, blending decay with decadence, futurism with classic femininity, and subversion with couture craftsmanship. Their provocative pieces—worn by Demi Moore, Sarah Paulson, Lady Gaga, and more—are more than clothes; they’re a fierce commentary on beauty, identity, and societal norms. So how does a brand, armed with shredded edges, distorted silhouettes, and a post-human aesthetic, break through the visual noise of Instagram to command the spotlight? Strap in. This isn’t just a story about fashion. It’s about turning the freaky into the fashionable, and making the world stare a little differently. LEARN MORE

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Last Wednesday, Zendaya wore a white gown with feathered wings from the Paris-based brand Matières Fécales to the New York premiere of The Odyssey. A few days later, model and It girl Gabbriette got married in a custom white silk taffeta gown from the brand, complete with a bustle and a train trimmed in distressed tulle. The label also made her two additional wedding-day looks: a Dracula-inspired black shroud and an ivory leather pantsuit with shredded edges.

Founded by Canadians Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran in Montreal in 2014, Matières Fécales—yes, that is French for “fecal matter”—and its provocatively beautiful designs are having a moment. In dressing a series of major celebrities, the designers have burst from their avant-garde niche. But if you look just at these celebrity appearances, you’ll see ballgowns that clash futurism with traditional feminine tropes, materials seemingly in decay, and body-distorting silhouettes. So how did this unconventional formula—marketed under an equally unconventional name—find a home on today’s red carpets?

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Zendaya in Matières Fécales at the premiere of The Odyssey

Dalton and Bhaskaran began as internet personalities, showcasing their eccentric beauty endeavors and gothic style on social media. They initially sold one-of-a-kind, upcycled pieces on Depop, DJing on the side to make ends meet, and began to gather a following for both their off-kilter designs and their own personal style.

“Hannah [Rose] and I, we’re nobodies,” Bhaskaran told Bazaar last year. “We don’t come from Central Saint Martins and that whole trajectory. We didn’t work for any big brands. We don’t have the résumé.” They met Adrian Joffe of Dover Street Market backstage at a Madonna concert when they were both opening for her and designing costumes for her Celebration tour. Madge has been a mentor to Dalton and Bhaskaran and, with the help of the DSM incubator, Matières Fécales debuted at Paris Fashion Week with a fall 2025 collection.

They have since become “ones to watch” on the fashion calendar—and their growth has exploded recently. In May, Demi Moore wore an electric pink tattered silk ball gown to the Cannes Film Festival. Just days prior, Sarah Paulson wore the shredded gray tulle version to the Met Gala. Lady Gaga wore a one-shouldered, feathered frock to the Grammys back in February.

A “post-human aesthetic”—that’s how Dalton and Bhaskaran describe their approach to design. Their collections call into question the archetypal codes of dress, from corporate uniforms to elaborate formalwear, by distorting silhouettes and fabrications. Traditional beauty standards erode before your eyes in the decaying tatters of tulle-swathed, bow-adorned ball gowns—sometimes in hot, hot Demna-for-Balenciaga pink. Blazers evocative of Dior’s Bar jacket get goonish, pointed shoulders, and padded hips, while bubblegum pink skirt suits are rendered in Chanel-y tweed frayed at the edge.

The brand’s most recent fall 2026 collection, shown in March in Paris, poked fun at the 1 percent, the richest of the rich. It was garishly over-the-top: opera gloves tinted blood-red at the palms, dollar bill masks, and prosthetics to give the effect of botched plastic surgery. Cosplay finance bros in quarter-zip sweaters walked by models in shrunken and warped knits and full skirts, or hoodies fashioned into gowns. Though Matières Fécales’s subversion tactics may seem gimmicky in nature, the designs have the quality to back it up. Everything, from pleatwork to tailoring to crinolines, is executed with couture-level craftsmanship.

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Matières Fécales Fall 2026

Dalton and Bhaskaran are their brand’s best ambassadors. They sport shaved heads and thick strokes of black eyeliner, wings extending to their temples—Dalton adds white face paint to her signature getup—that they wear with their soft pink and severe black designs. In their spring 2026 show notes, Bhaskaran wrote of Dalton: “Watching her walk out into the world every day, receiving such judgmental reactions towards her expression, makes me feel sad sometimes regarding the intolerance of the world around us. It sends a message that being different from the norm isn’t rewarded in this society. It’s usually degraded. Regardless, she still keeps walking through the laughter, the pointing, the stares, and often the aggression.”

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Hannah Rose Dalton walks the Matières Fécales Fall 2025 show

Despite the ferocity of the clothing, Dalton and Bhaskaran seem to have fostered a warm community. Their casting is both inclusive and provocative. Models of all ages, body types, and gender expressions swathed in princess tulle and pin-sharp tailoring are part of their clan. They’ve cast everyone from Nikki Lilly, who has a condition named high-flow craniofacial arteriovenous malformation (AVM), to the longevity influencer Bryan Johnson. Rick Owens, Michele Lamy, and Daphne Guinness attend the shows (the latter two have also walked in them). Matières Fécales is a home for anyone who feels othered. In making the freaky fashionable, Dalton and Bhaskaran force us to question the difference between those two extremes.

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Demi Moores in Matières Fécales at the Cannes Film Festival

Today, celebrity appearances are more like world-building activations than they are media affairs. And they’re a dime a dozen; you have to fight to cut through the noise on Instagram. Matières Fécales collections are a shock to the system, a glitch in the algorithm. The provocative nature of their clothing is bait to tell a deeper story. And where better to reconsider today’s beauty ideals than a red carpet, where Hollywood’s most beautiful stars wear fashion’s most alluring creations?