Review of Matières Fécales ‘Vendôme’ Fall 2025 Ad Campaign by Photographer Steven Raj Bhaskaran with model Hannah Rose
Matières Fécales’ Fall/Winter 2025 campaign, Vendôme, is both a confrontation and a love letter to Parisian luxury. Shot entirely by founders Hannah Rose (in front of the camera) and Steven Raj (behind it), the images place Rose’s stark, avant-garde presence directly against Place Vendôme, a square synonymous with heritage fashion houses, haute jewelry, and the old-world prestige of the Parisian bourgeoisie.
Her look is striking: porcelain white face, crimson lips, razor-black eyeliner, shoulders carved into extreme architectural silhouettes. The alien glamour of her styling collides with the refined backdrop of Place Vendôme, exposing the contradictions at the heart of Parisian fashion culture. Matières Fécales acknowledges their position as outsiders—“othered” by an industry still ruled by exclusionary codes of belonging—but they insist on presence, belonging by force of vision rather than by pedigree.
The tension becomes the point: in these images, Rose does not blend into Paris, she remakes it in her image. A black leather trench at the base of the Vendôme Column, a scarlet gown sweeping against imperial stone, a monumental white faux fur filling palace archways—all feel both disruptive and at home. That paradox mirrors the designers’ own experience: not fitting in, yet claiming the city as their own stage.
The shoes, in collaboration with Christian Louboutin, tie their vision to one of fashion’s most enduring Parisian icons. But while Louboutin’s red soles are built for the salons of the elite, Matières Fécales wears them like armor, dragging them across cobblestones in acts of both reverence and rebellion.
More than a collection, Vendôme is a manifesto of self-placement: an argument that belonging isn’t granted—it’s taken. In Paris, at the epicenter of fashion history, Matières Fécales declares their future.
Photographer | Steven Raj Bhaskaran
Model | Hannah Rose