Last September, Montréal-based label MRKNTN unveiled SAINT-MAURICE, a collection rooted in the textures, silhouettes, and cultural mythology of Québec’s working-class identity. Now, the brand returns to that universe through a newly released visual manifesto created in collaboration with SHOOT STUDIO, reframing the collection through a darker, more spectral lens.
Captured by photographer Vladim Vilain, the project transforms the familiar codes of labour and industrial masculinity into something more uncanny. Workwear becomes ritualistic, bodies emerge from shadow like nocturnal apparitions, and the rugged realism that informed the original collection mutates into a dystopian fever dream. The result further sharpens MRKNTN’s signature “Gothic Exotic” aesthetic, where Québécois cultural references are filtered through theatricality, sensuality, and decay.
Rather than simply revisiting the collection, the manifesto expands its mythology. Industrial spaces become cinematic ruins. Leather, distressed textures, and sculptural tailoring take on an almost vampiric quality, suspended somewhere between underground nightlife and post-industrial folklore. There is an insistence on atmosphere here, one that resists the sterile perfection increasingly associated with digitally mediated image production.
“The SHOOT STUDIO team immediately wanted to get involved in the project, and everything quickly snowballed with Vladim Vilain, as well as with Rémi Belleville, who is also directing a video project connected to the manifesto. Then, PESTACLE delivered the incredible scenography,” said Markantoine Lynch-Boisvert, Creative Director of MRKNTN.
That collaborative spirit sits at the centre of the project itself. Alongside SHOOT STUDIO, the manifesto brings together a network of local creatives, including filmmaker Rémi Belleville and scenography studio PESTACLE, emphasizing the importance of human artistry at a moment when fashion imagery is increasingly shaped by automation and generative technologies.
For MRKNTN, the project operates not only as an aesthetic statement, but as a declaration of intent. In an era where creative labour is increasingly abstracted or displaced by technological acceleration, SAINT-MAURICE insists on materiality, collaboration, and the irreplaceable presence of human vision. The manifesto ultimately becomes both a celebration of local talent and a refusal of creative disposability, grounding fashion image-making once again in craft, community, and physical performance.
Team Credits
Markantoine Lynch-Boisvert — Creative Director of MRKNTN
Vladim Vilain — Photographer
Rémi Belleville — Video Director
PESTACLE — Scenography
SHOOT STUDIO — Collaborator / Production Partner
Cody Rooney is the Editor in Chief and senior contributor at liminul.
He is a PhD candidate, digital content specialist, writer, editor, multi-media artist, and photographer.