Vogue: Where did the name come from?
Hannah: Going back to that first conversation when we became friends, it was just like, this industry is shit, right? There’s a lot of shitty things going on. There’s no other word for it, but how can we say it in a glamorous way? So we’re like, ‘fecal matter’ is the scientific word for it. And then, since we were living in Montréal, which is a French-speaking part of Canada, we were like, why don’t we just say it in French, it sounds way more glamorous.
Vogue: OK, so you finished school and launched Matières Fécales, what came next? How did you get started on Depop?
Hannah: For 10 years, it’s been a hustle. We had to find a way to survive. So after college we eventually moved to New York, and we were squatting in an underground club. Steve and I, we don’t drink or do drugs, so when the club was over at 6 o’clock in the morning we’d be ready to work [in there]. We would take bits of fabric, make outfits out of it and sell it to the drag queens. That’s how it started.
Steven: Then, we started selling on Depop. Because it was a way to sell our designs without having to manufacture at scale. And really, for the past 10 years, that’s kind of how we made a living, selling a lot of upcycled, one-of-a-kind pieces at first, like deconstructed blazers, then small batches of hoodies. We’d use social media and ourselves to promote everything. (Matières Fécales has 715,000 followers on Instagram.)
Vogue: It’s quite the leap from Depop to Paris Fashion Week, was that always the goal?
Steven: Before, there was a limit for us in terms of creativity, because we were using recycled materials. All of these sketches that we had, all these ideas weren’t able to be produced. Whereas now, we’re in a space where we can actually create some of our dream designs without limits — that’s been super exciting.
Vogue: Rick Owens is a friend and mentor of yours. How did you meet?
We first met Rick in 2017. He messaged us two weeks before Halloween and said, ‘I’d love to meet you guys.’ He’d read a New York Times article on us. We went to Rick and Michèle’s for dinner on Halloween. We showed them basically all of our work, all of our designs, and he really wanted to work with us on the skin boots that we did, and maybe do a collaboration for his show. It always felt like designers meeting each other.
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My first job in fashion: Rick Owens
Before Rick Owens emerged in Paris, seemingly fully formed as the new dark star of American fashion, he was incubated by experience in Los Angeles — and his first encounters with Michèle Lamy.
Vogue: You’ve collaborated with Rick on several occasions for his shows and campaigns. Has he given you any advice?
