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Matières Fécales · SS2729 September 2026

Matières Fécales SS27, The Ninety-Nine Percent: 99 models of colour on the Place de la République, statues of blindfolded rich men carried out last

Matières Fécales showed The Ninety-Nine Percent at 19:00 on 28 September on the Place de la République, the square Paris marches on, with the public invited inside the fenced-off site. Last season's show, The One Percent, ran inside the Palais Brongniart and was built, the house said then, on the Oxfam finding that the richest 1 per cent own nearly half the world's wealth. This one reversed it. Bhaskaran's own summary: the mission is to make it soulful, and the difference between the 1 per cent and the 99 per cent is opportunity. His protest section came from the punk and metal scenes where he found his people after leaving home in Montreal, and included Bbyafricka in denim and thigh-high Louboutin flip-flop slingbacks. The hats were by Stephen Jones, the jewellery by Parts of Four, the handwoven textiles and embroidery by Tilfi of Banaras, per the house's own credits. The label's name is French for fecal matter; it made Gabbriette's gown for her wedding to Matty Healy in July.

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The post, as it ran

01THE NINETY-NINE PERCENT IS THE NAME MATIÈRES FÉCALES GAVE ITS SHOW, STAGED AT 19:00 ON 28 SEPTEMBER BENEATH THE MONUMENT À LA RÉPUBLIQUE IN PARIS.

02EVERY ONE OF THE 99 MODELS WAS A PERSON OF COLOUR. HANNAH ROSE DALTON AND STEVEN RAJ BHASKARAN SAY IT WAS THE FIRST FASHION SHOW ON THE SQUARE.

03LAST SEASON'S SHOW, THE ONE PERCENT, WAS STAGED INSIDE THE PALAIS BRONGNIART, THE FORMER PARIS STOCK EXCHANGE. THIS ONE, IN BHASKARAN'S WORDS, IS FOR THE 99 PER CENT.

04IT OPENED WITH MODELS CARRYING SWADDLED INFANTS AND CLOSED WITH TWO YOUNG BLACK MODELS CARRYING SARAH SITKIN'S HYPER-REALISTIC STATUES OF OLD WHITE MEN, BLINDFOLDED WITH DOLLAR BILLS.

05THIRTY-FIVE MINUTES, THREE ACTS. THE FIRST WAS AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL, CLOSING AT LOOK 40 WITH BHASKARAN, HIS MOTHER GRACE, HIS SISTER SHANDEAL AND HIS NIECE VIHANNA ON THE RUNWAY.

06MEN'S HEADS WERE COVERED EARLY IN THE LINE-UP. BHASKARAN CALLED IT VEILING THE MALE IDENTITY, REVERSING A CONVENTION MORE USUALLY IMPOSED ON WOMEN.

07THE SECOND ACT, HIS PROTEST SECTION: LEATHER, BALACLAVAS, DEATH-METAL T-SHIRTS STARRING MARIANNE, AND A MODEL WRAPPED IN THE TRICOLORE PRINTED WITH THE WORD RESIST.

08THE THIRD ACT WIDENED COUTURE: SARI TEXTILES HANDWOVEN IN VARANASI CUT INTO COUTURE VOLUMES, AND HANDWOVEN COTTON FROM BURKINA FASO CORSETED INTO EVENINGWEAR.

09LOOK 75, A TULLE-TRAINED GOWN, WAS WORN BY MOUNIA, THE MARTINICAN MODEL WHO BECAME YVES SAINT LAURENT'S MUSE IN 1978, A DEFINING BLACK FIGURE OF PARIS COUTURE.

10RIHANNA SAT FRONT ROW IN A CUSTOM TINSEL-FRINGED SKIRT SUIT AND THE CURVED HEELS THE HOUSE MADE WITH CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN, NEAR RICK OWENS AND MICHÈLE LAMY.

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