The Matières Fécales "The One Percent" Fashion Show Is Hard to Watch, and That's the Point

When someone mentions fashion week, exquisite models, beautiful dresses, and expensive, designer pieces come to mind. Designers Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran, of the fashion house Matières Fécales (meaning "fecal matter"), turned expectations on their head at Paris Fashion Week with their show, "The One Percent."

The show makes a statement about the wealthiest people in our society, and, ironically, those who can afford designer clothes and tickets to Fashion Week. The show critiqued the wealthy upper class with unsettling prosthetics and outlandish looks. Some models wore white gloves with "blood" on their palms, others were literally blinded by money, and some had their hands tied with pearls instead of cuffs.

This show lands squarely in the center of the Venn diagram of fans who love both Face Off and Project Runway. Matières Fécales commented on plastic surgery and society's never-ending pursuit of youth by dressing models in prosthetics, creating puffy faces in recovery from surgery, oversized facial features, and even skin stretched back over cheekbones with tape.

Special effects make-up artist Alexis Stone designed the striking post-surgery looks.

As described by the fashion enthusiast TikTok account @ideservecouture, the Matières Fécales show starts with a look at wealthy families. We see imposing mothers and fathers, followed by demure heirs dressed in distressed versions of recognizable high-fashion mainstays like Chanel tweed suits.

Many of the models wore white gloves called "Guilt Gloves" with blood on their palms. One model wears a ball gag made of pearls, and others have their hands tied with pearls rather than cuffs. Some models wear masks made of money, and a model dressed like the Monopoly man is literally blinded by bills.

The second part of the show features models in black oversized hoodies that resemble cloaks, with their mouths covered and the word "cult" written on their backs in red. @ideservecouture says that this chapter symbolizes community and the fact that both the label itself and the one percent have been called cultists.

The last section of the show is about "the power of the future." Hannah walked in heel-less boots that look as if they grow right out of her feet, symbolizing the "tools of life" that only the rich have access to. Michèle Lamy walked the runway in a gray, knit dress with dramatic fur accents to symbolize natural aging.

Some TikTok comments question how the show's message clashes with its inclusion of people like tech guru, multi-millionaire, and youth-obsessed entrepreneur Bryan Johnson. Others brought up the inclusion of Michèle Lamy, the wealthy fashion designer, entrepreneur, and wife of Rick Owens.

Despite one's opinion of the show's critique of extreme wealth, the looks are certainly not forgettable.