These viral Paris Fashion Week looks? They have a Banaras connection

Matieres Fecales brought its bold, unconventional aesthetic to Paris Fashion Week - with Banarasi craftsmanship in the mix.

Fashion can be many things — beautiful, dramatic, rebellious, even strange. And sometimes, a fashion show creates the kind of images that the internet simply cannot stop talking about.

That is exactly what happened at Paris Fashion Week on September 28, when Montral-based avant-garde fashion label Matieres Fecales presented its latest collection, The Ninety-Nine Percent. The show has since gone viral for its striking makeup, dramatic gowns, unconventional styling. Amid all the unusual looks was something that caught the attention of Indian fashion lovers too: the saree.

Founded by Steven Raj Bhaskaran and Hannah Rose Dalton, Matieres Fecales which literally translates to “Faecal Matter” - is known for avant-garde designs.

For the Paris showcase this season, the duo took over Place de la Republique in Paris, a location famously associated with protests and public demonstrations. They presented 99 looks on 99 models of colour, using the show to explore ideas of identity, belonging and people who often find themselves outside the traditional centres of power.

Saree, gown and bit of sindoor

For this collection, designers Bhaskaran and Dalton used saree draping as a way to bring together different cultural influences. Saree-inspired drapes appeared across several looks, sometimes in ways that were immediately recognisable and at other times transformed into exaggerated, almost futuristic silhouettes.

And there was a direct Indian connection behind some of them: they were handwoven in Banaras.

One look featured a soft pink saree-inspired silhouette with a structured jacket. The fabric was handwoven and hand-embroidered by Indian brand Tilfi Banaras. The deliberately destroyed hems gave the delicate outfit a rougher edge.

Another look featured a dramatic fluff gown with a sculpted bodice. The Indian brand had custom-dyed rose motif embroidery on crimson silk. The beaded and fringe details elevated the look.

Among the top viral moments from the show was this pale pink ballgown, styled with a saree-inspired drape. The look featured intricate silver embroidery, shimmering embellishments and a pallu draped across the shoulder.

The makeup was of course, hard to miss, with several social media users interpreting the look as the designer’s nod to sindoor.

All these looks, and more from the collection, got the internet going gaga over it. Even Indian designers like Anaita Shroff Adajania appreciated the collection. She commented "I love it" on a video posted by Diet Sabya, the anonymous Instagram account that's now become one of the prominent voices in fashion.

One user commented on X how "the contrast of a white painted face with sindoor and saree-inspired silhouette is irresistibly chic."

Some even jokingly dubbed the viral pieces “chudail couture” on social media.

More about the collection

The collection, The Ninety-Nine Percent, is essentially a follow-up to last season’s The One Percent, which focused on the world’s wealthiest one per cent.

This time, the spotlight was on everyone else. “If the 1 percent were the villains, the 99 percent in our story are the heroes,” Bhaskaran said ahead of the show.

The presentation moved through different colour stories, beginning with an all-white sequence, followed by black looks and then a dramatic burst of scarlet. Bhaskaran eventually closed the show alongside his mother, sister and three-year-old niece.

The collection was definitely all things unconventional, and as the New York Times puts it, "fashion is more than pretty stuff, it is a form of identitymaxxing."

The show opened with a pregnant woman in a headscarf, carrying a baby on her back, and closed with a woman in a gold, ruched dress, with two mannequins in black suits draped over her shoulders. The collection also presented studded leather, denim, “Resist” T-shirts, sculpted jackets, fitted body-con dresses, turbans, tulle suits, dramatic ball skirts, beaded gowns and more.

As for the saree, international labels have long drawn inspiration from the timeless drape, while also turning to Indian craftsmanship for handwoven fabrics and intricate embroidery = sometimes without due acknowledgment, raising questions around cultural appropriation.

This collection, however, offered a more personal connection to the garment. Bhaskaran is a Guyanese-Sri Lankan designer born in Montral. According to Vogue Runway, he “grew up across Hindu, Christian, Mormon and Muslim environments”.

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