{"id":2065801,"date":"2026-07-08T10:46:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T08:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/2026\/07\/08\/the-girls-are-back-at-the-folies-matieres-fecales-photographs-a-historic-trans-cast\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T10:53:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T08:53:31","slug":"the-girls-are-back-at-the-folies-matieres-fecales-photographs-a-historic-trans-cast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/2026\/07\/08\/the-girls-are-back-at-the-folies-matieres-fecales-photographs-a-historic-trans-cast\/","title":{"rendered":"The Girls Are Back at the Folies: Mati\u00e8res F\u00e9cales Photographs a Historic Trans Cast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some of them have already graced this stage, back in the 1980s, when no one was watching yet. Photographer Steven Raj brings them back there\u2014in haute couture this time, and in the spotlight. <\/em><\/p>\n\n

The Palimpsest of a Scene<\/h2>\n\n

There is something dizzying about the image: Allanah Starr and Amanda Lepore on the stage of the Folies Berg\u00e8re, wearing headpieces by Stephen Jones, Louboutin shoes, and designs by Mati\u00e8res F\u00e9cales. The sense of vertigo doesn\u2019t stem from the extravagance of the scene\u2014it stems from what we know, or sense, when looking at these women: they know this venue. Some of them have walked through it, lived in it, long before fashion came calling. <\/p>\n\n

Allanah Starr performed there in the 1990s\u2014at a time when trans identity was more of a cabaret curiosity than a mainstream topic. Steven Raj\u2019s campaign doesn\u2019t pretend to ignore this past\u2014it deliberately invokes it by choosing a venue that predated institutional recognition by several decades. <\/p>\n\n

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Feces: Sewing as a Deliberate Political Act<\/h2>\n\n

The Parisian label Mati\u00e8res F\u00e9cales occupies a unique position in the contemporary fashion landscape: too haute couture for streetwear, too subversive for the elite. This lineup\u2014Amanda Lepore, Gigi Goode, Sasha Colby, Lewis G Burton, Allanah Starr, Sam Buttery\u2014is not a list of celebrities. It is a genealogy. Each of these figures represents an era, a space of resistance, and a distinct expression of trans identity in popular culture. <\/p>\n\n

What Mati\u00e8res F\u00e9cales understands\u2014and what many fashion houses that have been dressing trans icons for the past few seasons still seem to ignore\u2014is that visibility is not an end in itself. It is a context. Putting these women on stage at the Folies, in plays that bear the mark of a genuine perspective, isn\u2019t mere representation\u2014it\u2019s an affirmation. <\/p>\n\n

Stephen Jones, Louboutin, and the Grammar of Transgressive Luxury<\/h2>\n\n

The collaborations announced in the campaign are worth taking a closer look at. Stephen Jones is one of the few milliners whose personal history spans both the queer clubs of the late 1970s and Dior\u2019s fashion shows. Christian Louboutin, whose work has always been tied to artifice, grandeur, and performance, is a natural fit for such a lineup. <\/p>\n\n

Proceeds from the campaign are donated to La Maison d’Allanah, an organization that supports transgender migrant women, and to Stop Homophobie. This detail, often relegated to a footnote in press releases, is central to this project. It transforms the photo shoot into an act of solidarity rather than a public relations stunt. <\/p>\n\n

What the Image Says Without Saying It<\/h2>\n\n

After watching Steven Raj\u2019s images, one question remains that doesn\u2019t call for an immediate answer: when a famous scene\u2014or rather, those scenes it has long exploited from the shadows\u2014is this a form of redress or a new form of exploitation? *Mati\u00e8res F\u00e9cales* doesn\u2019t take a stance. And perhaps that is what makes these images honest. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of them have already graced this stage, back in the 1980s, when no one was watching yet. Photographer Steven Raj brings them back there\u2014in haute couture this time, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2061628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30776,52709],"tags":[79015,79012,59913,79009,79013,79011,30192,79014,79010,30262,79008],"class_list":["post-2065801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mode-en","category-thefashion","tag-amanda-lepore","tag-amanda-lepore-fashion-2026","tag-campaign","tag-fecal-matter","tag-folies-bergere","tag-folies-bergere-trans-couture","tag-paris-en","tag-sasha-colby","tag-sasha-colby-fashion","tag-sewing","tag-trans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2065801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2065801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2065801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2061628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2065801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2065801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2065801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}