Inuit clothing

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 outfit

The most basic version of the traditional Inuit outfit consisted of a hooded parka, pants, mittens, inner footwear, and outer boots, all made of animal hide and fur. These garments were fairly lightweight despite their insulating properties: a complete outfit weighed no more than around depending on the number of layers and the size of the wearer. Extra layers could be added as required for the weather or activity, which generally cycled with the changing of the seasons.
Although the basic outfit framework was largely the same across Inuit groups, their wide geographic range gave rise to a broad variety of styles for basic garments, often specific to the place of origin. The range of distinguishing features on the parka alone was significant, as described by Inuit clothing expert Betty Kobayashi Issenman in her comprehensive study on Inuit clothing Sinews of Survival: "a hood or lack thereof, and hood shape; width and configuration of shoulders; presence of flaps front and back, and their shape; in women's clothing the size and shape of the baby pouch; length and outline of the lower edge; and fringes, ruffs, and decorative inserts."
Group or familial affinity was indicated by aesthetic features such as variations in the patterns made by different colours of fur, the cut of the garment, and the length of fur. In some cases, the styling of a garment could indicate biographical details such as the individual's age, marital status, and specific kin group. The vocabulary for describing individual garments in the Inuit languages is correspondingly extensive, which Issenman noted in Sinews of Survival:
The concept of Inuit clothing encompasses the traditional wear of a geographically broad range of Inuit cultures from Alaska to Greenland. For the sake of consistency, this article uses Canadian Inuktitut terminology, unless otherwise noted.

Body position	Garment name	Inuktitut syllabics	Description	Notes
Torso	Qulittuq	ᖁᓕᑦᑕᖅ	Closed hooded parka, fur facing out	Men's parka, outer layer
Torso	Atigi	ᐊᑎᒋ	Closed hooded parka, fur facing in	Men's parka, inner layer
Torso	Amauti	ᐊᒪᐅᑎ	Closed parka with pouch for infants	Women's parka
Hands	Pualuuk	ᐳᐊᓘᒃ	Mitts	Unisex, double layered if necessary
Legs	Qarliik	ᖃᕐᓖᒃ	Trousers	Double layered for men, single for women
Legs	Mirquliik	ᒥᕐᖁᓖᒃ	Stockings	Unisex, double layered
Feet	Kamiit	ᑲᒦᒃ	Boots	Unisex, length dependent on function
Feet	Tuqtuqutiq	ᑐᖅᑐᖁᑎᖅ	Overshoes	Unisex, worn when needed

Upper body garments

Traditional Inuit culture divided labour by gender, and men and women wore garments tailored to accommodate their distinct roles. The outer layer worn by men was called the qulittaq, and the inner layer was called the atigi. These garments had no front opening, and were donned by pulling them over the head. Men's parkas usually had straight-cut bottom hems with slits and loose shoulders to enhance mobility when hunting. The loose shoulders also permitted a hunter to pull their arms out of the sleeves and into the coat against the body for warmth without removing the coat. The closely fitted hood provided protection to the head without obstructing vision. The hem of the outer coat would be left long in the back so the hunter could sit on the back flap and remain insulated from the snowy ground while watching an ice hole while seal hunting, or while waiting out an unexpected storm. A traditional parka had no pockets; articles were carried in bags or pouches. Some parkas had toggles called amakat-servik on which a pouch could be hung.
Parkas for women are called amauti and have large pouches called amaut for carrying infants. Textile scholar Dorothy Burnham described the construction of the amaut as an "engineering feat." Numerous regional variations of the amauti exist, but the hem is typically left longer and cut into rounded apron-like flaps, which are called kiniq in the front and akuq in the back. The infant rests against the mother's bare back inside the pouch, providing intimate skin to skin contact. A belt called a qaksun-gauti is cinched around the mother's waist on the outside of the amauti, supporting the infant without restraining it. At rest, the infant usually sits upright with legs bent, although standing up inside the amaut is possible. The roomy garment can accommodate the child being moved to the front to breastfeed or eliminate urine and faeces, and can be reversed to allow the child to sit facing the mother to play. In the past, the amaut would be made smaller and narrower for widows or women past their childbearing years, who no longer needed to carry children.
In the western Arctic, particularly among the Inuvialuit and the Copper Inuit, there is another style of women's parka called the "Mother Hubbard", adapted from the European Mother Hubbard dress. The Inuit version is a full-length, long-sleeved cotton dress with a ruffled hem and a fur-trimmed hood. A layer of insulation – either wool duffel cloth or animal fur – is sewn inside for warmth, allowing it to function as winterwear. Although the Mother Hubbard parka only arrived in the late 19th century, it largely eclipsed historical styles of clothing to the point where it is now seen as the traditional women's garment in those areas.
The modern hooded overcoat known generically as a parka or anorak in English is descended from the Inuit garment. The terms parka and anorak were adopted into English as loanwords from Aleut and Greenlandic, respectively.

Trousers and leggings

Both men and women wore trousers called qarliik. During the winter, men typically wore two pairs of fur trousers to provide warmth on lengthy hunting trips. Qarliik were waist-high and held on loosely by a drawstring. The shape and length depended on the material being used, caribou trousers having a bell shape to capture warm air rising from the boot, and seal or polar bear trousers being generally straight-legged. In some regions, particularly the Western Arctic, men, women, and children sometimes wore atartaq, leggings with attached feet similar to hose, although these are no longer common. In East Greenland, women's trousers, or qartippaat, were quite short, leaving a gap between the thigh-length boots and the bottom of the trousers.
Women's qarliik were generally shaped the same as men's, but adjusted for women's needs. Women wore fewer layers overall, as they usually did not go outdoors for long periods during winter. During menstruation, women would wear a pair of old trousers supplemented inside with small pieces of hide, so as to not soil their daily outfit. In some areas, women historically wore thigh-length trousers known as qarlikallaak with leggings called qukturautiik rather than full-length pants. The Igluulingmiut of Foxe Basin and some of the Caribou Inuit wore a style of baggy leggings or stockings sewn to boots for long journeys. The wide leggings provided space that could be used to warm food and store small items. These leggings were much-noted by non-Inuit who encountered them, although they ceased to be made in the 1940s due to lack of materials.