Montreal has long been recognized as a hub of culture, food, and joie de vivre. But beyond its festivals, bagels, and boutique hotels lies an emerging fashion landscape waiting to be discovered. A new generation of talented designers is putting Montreal on the map for haute couture and cutting-edge styles.
These up-and-coming creatives have honed their craft at top Montreal fashion schools like LaSalle College and École supérieure de mode ESG UQAM. Forgoing fashion epicenters like NYC and Paris, they have chosen to launch their labels within Montreal’s flourishing local fashion ecosystem. With individualistic mission statements, they create boundary-pushing designs from Montreal ateliers that rival the world’s fashion capitals.
Meet five of the standout emerging designers shaping Montreal’s fashion future:
UNTTLD – Avant Garde Street Couture
Launched in 2010 by partners Simon Bélanger and Jose Luis Valenzuela, UNTTLD captures Montreal’s edgy arts scene in high fashion form. The designers met while studying fashion at LaSalle College. Their shared love for street style and structural silhouettes led them to create UNTTLD as a contemporary Montreal-based label.
Both hailing from outside Canada originally, Bélanger from France and Valenzuela from Mexico, the designers infuse diverse influences into UNTTLD’s futuristic urban aesthetic. Their sleek, geometric, and graphic pieces reference architecture, nature, and technology in equal measure. UNTTLD designs inhabit the intersection between art and clothing with conceptual exploration. Collections like Supernova and Dystopia play with exaggerated shapes, sheer fabrics, bold patterns, and fluid asymmetrical construction to convey futurism through fashion.
Harricana – Eco-Friendly Luxury Recycled Fur
Canadian designer Mariouche Gagné founded Harricana in 1994 with a mission of opulent sustainability. Headquartered in Montreal with a workshop in Calgary, Harricana makes lavish use of recycled fur, woven silks, and vintage materials to create supremely cozy outerwear. Gagné rescues fur clothing and accessories from secondhand stores to reconstitute into modern, ethical pieces.
By diverting waste from landfills, each fur or silk item gets renewed utility. Classic coats, vests, ponchos, and other timeless silhouettes receive colorful accents like dyed shearlings and ornate embroidery. Gagné also mentors young creatives, using Harricana’s success to ignite passion for eco-conscious local production. Harricana’s recycled fur selection offers a sustainable answer to the demand forCanadian winter warmth with responsibly produced luxury.
Atelier New Regime – Genderless Streetwear Art
Atelier New Regime, launched in 2015, provides a platform for Korean-Canadian founder Gwangho Lee to push beyond gender norms through fashion. Lee’s streetwear and accessories range from embellished jeans and sweatsuits to upcycled tops and bold jewelry. Uniting influences from Korean heritage and Montreal diversity, Lee embraces gender fluidity and self-expression by creating unisex clothing under the “New Regime.”
Exaggerated silhouettes, paint splatters, heavy contouring, and textual patched overlays convey the label’s complex postmodern designs. But Lee also incorporates more subtle details like enlarged buttons, asymmetric cuts, and oversized fits to gently challenge expectations. Atelier New Regime offers statement art pieces for those who dress uniquely to honor both past and future.
NADYA TOTO – Bold Made-to-Order Couture
After attending LaSalle College and working under Canadian fashion greats like Marie Saint Pierre, Nadya Toto launched her own made-to-order couture label in 2016. Specializing in evening wear and bridal, Toto funnels boundless creativity into custom-tailored pieces from her Montreal studio. Her artistic talents shone through early, when a dress she designed won the 2013 Grande Finale Project Runway Canada competition while still a student.
Toto now actualizes clients’ dream gowns and statement pieces through intimate consultations and bespoke construction. Whether graceful, whimsical, or romantic, her designs capture attention through bold draping, ornamentation, corsetry, asymetrical layers, and elegant fabrics like silk mousseline and Chantilly lace. Toto accepts only limited commissions annually to pour love into each detail, creating wearable artworks worthy of the red carpet.
Nicholas Nydia – Androgynous Minimalism Meets Street Goth
Born in Quebec, Nicholas Nydia returned from NYC fashion studies to establish his eponymous Montreal-based label in 2015. Nydia’s urban dark romanticism shines through in muted palette pieces blending street goth and minimalist elements. A constant contrast between sharp tailored suiting and billowing exaggerated shapes defines the brand’s brooding yet soft aesthetic.
Nydia also employs poetic details like cross-stitched phrases, sculptural sleeves, and deconstructed shirting for cerebral flair. By balancing muted colors and matte textures with metallic shine, the gender-inclusive line disrupts boundaries. Whether harnessing the allure of all black everything or modern cool of neutral trench coats, Nicholas Nydia’s future-facing fashions flow with melancholy romance.
Through relentless innovation, Montreal’s vanguard of emerging designers is ready for the spotlight. These young talents transform local inspiration into forward fashions with a distinct Montreal joie de vivre. Watch for UNTTLD’s gravity-defying structures, Harricana’s recycled opulence, Atelier New Regime’s manifesto of self-expression, Nadya Toto’s couture dramatics, and Nicholas Nydia’s urban dreamscapes to represent Montreal’s aesthetics on the global stage. The future looks bright for Montreal fashion.