via @fecalmatterworld
At first glance, Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran seem like a Norman Rockwell portrait from the year 3019 where ecological disasters have already come to a head and biology has mutated to accommodate a new world order, but if you look closer at the nipple-horned and skin-heeled creators, you’ll see that the French-Canadian duo that goes by the name of Fecal Matter, is more of a science fiction interpretation of the present than musings on the future.
“People perceive our work as ahead of its time or futuristic because society is behind in a lot of ways,” Bhaskaran says. “We live in a generation where everyone has a filter over themselves. Even if you take a picture on your iPhone and post it on Instagram without editing it, the camera lens still presents it in a different point of view. The beauty of that filter, of having layers and add-ons, is that you can transform whatever is real into something that is different, new or unknown.”
While digital tools like Photoshop may have helped Fecal Matter to brainstorm what is possible, they don’t look so different on-screen from how they appear in real life—this has something to do with the fact that Dalton and Bhaskaran met at fashion school in Montreal and have the chops to create elaborate items that straddle the line between prosthetic and garment, like their boots that use couture practices to mimic the appearance of skin shaped like an Alexander McQueen Armadillo boots, which you can actually catch them going out to dinner in.
“We’re not just doing makeup looks and taking photos, this is really our life and who we are,” Bashkaran says. “It’s us trying to share a really vulnerable side of what our experiences as humans are. I think that’s what makes them relate so well. When trans people, or anyone experimenting with gender, see how we live our lives and go to the grocery store and do whatever it is that we’re doing, it allows them to also present their authentic self to the world and be free.”
This isn’t always easy, when you add a non-binary identity on to an avant-garde look; it creates a polarising response from strangers. While some congratulate the duo for resisting the norm, others approach them with a lot of hate. “Sometimes we don’t dress up and we don’t care and that’s also cool, but because we’re both bald and eyebrowless naturally people still look and stare when they see us holding hands in the street.”
Despite the large part fashion plays in their lives, the former design students feel conflicted about the industry, which is where the name comes from. “The name is our reflection upon the industry and seeing it as shit,” Dalton says. “We’re talking about fast fashion (how you buy clothing and then throw it out and buy new stuff) through our brand.” In order not to fall into that trap, they don’t follow the production pressure of the fashion calendar and do a lot of upcycling when it comes to creating their signature garments and accessories.
One of the Fecal Matter pieces that earns a double take is the dildo handbag. The styles range from humble bum bags to quilted Chanel purses, but it is the large black and flesh-toned sex toys that replace the handle, which make them so eye-catching. According to Bashkaran, the design process was sparked less by a desire to create more phallic imagery and more by their love of faux-skin aesthetics.
“We questioned how we could implement the silicone of the skin shoes into our accessories and that’s when the ‘ding ding ding’ thing happened with the dildos,” they say. “They’re fleshy, silicone, and look like a human part that we can play with. It was pretty intense, everyone was shocked, but now it’s become a classic, like our very own staple Burberry trench coat. People know that they can come and find that.”
Although fetish gear—ranging from gag mouth pieces, to chains and equine bits—features heavily in Fecal Matter’s collections, they don’t want to get pigeon holed into a ‘sex thing.’ “It’s really important for us that we take it outside of the bedroom, and show our parents, and surround ourselves with everyday people,” Bashkaran says.
Maybe the pieces still stand out or shock on the street, but the fact that Dalton and Bashkaran manage to wear them in broad daylight proves that the aesthetic has a place in the present.