Traditional clothing of the indigenous peoples of Arctic North America
Women's traditional caribou skin outfit with amauti parka, trousers, mitts and long boots with side pouches. The back of the parka has an amaut or pouch for carrying a baby. From Baker Lake, Eskimo Point and Hikoligjuaq, west of Hudson Bay. Collected on 5th Thule Expedition, 1921–1924Modern women's parka created by Inuk designer Victoria Kakuktinniq, 2021. The body of the parka is made from synthetic waterproof fabric, with silver fox fur trim on the hood and sealskin trim on the hem and cuffs. The curved hem is typical of the traditional amauti.
Traditional Inuit clothing is a complex system of cold-weather garments historically made from animal hide and fur, worn by Inuit, a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic areas of Canada, Greenland, and the United States. The basic outfit consisted of a parka, pants, mittens, inner footwear, and outer boots. The most common sources of hide were caribou, seals, and seabirds, although other animals were used when available. The production of warm, durable clothing was an essential survival skill which was passed down from women to girls, and which could take years to master. Preparation of clothing was an intensive, weeks-long process that occurred on a yearly cycle following established hunting seasons. The creation and use of skin clothing was strongly intertwined with Inuit religious beliefs.
Despite the wide geographical distribution of Inuit across the Arctic, historically, these garments were consistent in both design and material due to the common need for protection against the extreme weather and the limited range of materials suitable for the purpose. The appearance of individual garments varied according to gender roles and seasonal needs, as well as the specific dress customs of each tribe or group. The Inuit decorated their clothing with fringes, pendants, and insets of contrasting colours, and later adopted techniques such as beadwork when trade made new materials available.
The Inuit clothing system bears strong similarities to the skin clothing systems of other circumpolar peoples such as the Indigenous peoples of Alaska, Siberia and the Russian Far East. Archaeological evidence indicates that the history of circumpolar clothing may have begun in Siberia as early as 22,000BCE, and in northern Canada and Greenland as early as 2500BCE. After Europeans began to explore the North American Arctic in the late 1500s, seeking the Northwest Passage, Inuit began to adopt European clothing for convenience. Around the same time, Europeans began to conduct research on Inuit clothing, including the creation of visual depictions, academic writing, studies of effectiveness, and museum collections.
In the modern era, changes to the Inuit lifestyle led to a loss of traditional skills and a reduced demand for full outfits of skin clothing. Since the 1990s, efforts by Inuit organizations to revive historical cultural skills and combine them with modern clothing-making techniques have led to a resurgence of traditional Inuit clothing, particularly for special occasions, and the development of contemporary Inuit fashion as its own style within the larger Indigenous American fashion movement.
Traditional Inuitclothing is a complex system of cold-weather garments historically made from animal hide and fur, worn by Inuit, a group of culturally...
Archaeological evidence indicates that the use of Inuitclothing extends far back into prehistory, with significant evidence to indicate that its basic...
The Inuit are an indigenous people of the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America (parts of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland). The ancestors of the...
Archaeological Survey. Textile arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas Inuitclothing Yup'ik clothing Folk costume Native American jewelry v t e...
The Inuit are indigenous people who live in the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America (parts of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland). The ancestors...
on Inuitclothing across many fields. Since Europeans first made contact with the Inuit in the 16th century, documentation and research on Inuit clothing...
Copper Inuit, also known as Inuinnait and Kitlinermiut,[pronunciation?] are a Canadian Inuit group who live north of the tree line, in what is now the...
are staple of Inuitclothing, traditionally made from caribou or seal skin, for hunting and kayaking in the frigid Arctic. Some Inuit anoraks require...
"Winter Clothing (III.1: INUITCLOTHING/SHELTER)". INUIT ~ People of the Arctic. "The Arctic People - Religion / Ceremonies / Art / Clothing". "Mukluk"...
Yupik: nigaugek, nigauget) are a type of eyewear traditionally used by the Inuit and the Yupik peoples of the Arctic to prevent snow blindness. The goggles...
Inuit art, also known as Eskimo art, refers to artwork produced by Inuit, that is, the people of the Arctic previously known as Eskimos, a term that is...
Traditional Inuitclothing Outerwear Ski suit Jacket Winter Gloves Selbuvott Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cold weather clothing. "Centre for...
Central Inuit are the Inuit of Northern Canada, their designation determined by geography and their tradition of snowhouses ("igloos"), fur clothing, and...
closely related Indigenous peoples: Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Canadian Inuit, and the Greenlandic Inuit) and the Yupik (or Yuit) of eastern...
Inuit navigation techniques are those navigation skills used for thousands of years by the Inuit, a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples who...
2008-09-30. Issenman, Betty Kobayashi (2007). "The Art and Technique of InuitClothing". McCord Museum. Archived from the original on 2021-12-24. Retrieved...
The northern Inuit dog, along with its offshoots, the British timber dog, the tamaskan and the utonagan, is a crossbreed of dog developed from a 1980s...
Neoprene Is Stitched". www.nrs.com. Retrieved 15 December 2018. "III.2: INUITCLOTHING/SHELTER 2. Summer ~ People of the Arctic by John Tyman". www.johntyman...
Issenman, Betty Kobayashi (1997). Sinews of Survival: the Living Legacy of InuitClothing. Vancouver: UBC Press. p. 214. ISBN 978-0-7748-5641-6. OCLC 923445644...
to cut sinew or for cutting out patterns from animal skins to make Inuitclothing and kamiit (shoes). An ulu with a 15 cm (5.9 in) blade would be used...
peoples or Eskimo. Inuitclothing Yup'ik clothing This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Circumpolar clothing. If an internal...
A kamleika is an Aleut robe made from sea mammal (mostly sea otter) intestine, which was light and waterproof. They also sometimes had robes to protect...
of InuitClothing. Vancouver: UBC Press. p. 214. ISBN 978-0-7748-5641-6. OCLC 923445644. Smith, Eric Alden; Smith, S. Abigail; et al. (1994). "Inuit Sex-Ratio...
Novalinga also uses her platform to model traditional Inuitclothing. She celebrates clothing handmade with local furs and animal skins by her mother...
Kivallirmiut, also called the Caribou Inuit (Inuktitut: Kivallirmiut/ᑭᕙᓪᓕᕐᒥᐅᑦ), barren-ground caribou hunters, are Inuit who live west of Hudson Bay in Kivalliq...
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