User:Premeditated Chaos/Appropriation

Adoption by explorers and whalers

Promotional photograph of polar explorer Robert Peary on the deck of steamship Roosevelt, 1909

Cross-cultural adoption of clothing was not always one-sided. European whalers sometimes adopted Inuit garments for Arctic travel, occasionally even going so far as to hire entire families of Inuit to travel with them and sew skin clothing. By the mid-1800s, it was common for American and British polar explorers to trade for or commission Inuit garments. Canadian explorers Diamond Jenness and Vilhjalmur Stefansson lived with the Inuit during the Canadian Arctic Expedition (1913–1916), adopting Inuit clothing and making in-depth studies of its construction. The Scandinavian personnel of the Fifth Thule Expedition (1922–1924) did the same. Contemporary commentators described the effectiveness of Inuit garments for the cold weather, including reducing deaths from exposure on whaling ships. Effectiveness of fur garments was not the only consideration for non-Inuit: social and economic factors also played a part, especially for Arctic adventurers. Because there was less effort to colonize the Arctic regions with white settlers when compared to more temperate regions, some Europeans may have felt less social pressure to wear European clothing.

Some explorers positioned their adoption of Inuit clothing as a marketing strategy to increase interest and funding for their expeditions. Historian Sarah Pickman argues that famous polar explorers like Robert Peary, Roald Amundsen, and Robert Scott promoted their use or rejection of Inuit clothing as evidence of their own adventuring skill. Peary, like many other explorers, sold photographs of himself in striking Inuit-style outfits and sometimes appeared at lectures wearing furs. He often claimed that his use of Inuit technology was a unique factor in his success as an Arctic explorer, despite the fact that plenty of previous explorers had used Inuit technology. When the Amundsen and Scott South Pole expeditions are compared, Amundsen's use of Inuit-style clothing is regarded as a significant factor in the success of his expedition, while Scott's preference for British textiles is considered a major failure point in his own. Amundsen wrote that his detailed preparations, including his extensive study of the clothing of the Netsilingmiut Inuit, had been paramount in his success. In contrast, Scott promoted his rejection of Inuit furs in favor of traditional British textile-based expedition gear as a point of nationalistic pride.

Wearing skin clothing did not necessarily indicate respect for the Inuit and their practices. Many explorers continued to treat Inuit with condescension even as they appropriated their clothing. Peary never learned more than a few words of Inuktitut despite his nearly twelve years in the Arctic, and wrote that Inuit were valuable assistants but "of course they could not lead". Amundsen acknowledged Inuit mastery of polar survival skills, but wrote of them as "savages" and never included Inuit members in his expeditions.

Appropriation by Southern fashion industry

19th and 20th century: polar craze, Space Age fashion, and 1990s

Vogue cover showing woman in stylized fur outfit spearing polar bear, August 1917, George Lepape

The intersection between traditional Inuit clothing and the non-Inuit or "Southern" fashion industry has often been contentious. Inuit seamstresses and designers have described instances of non-Inuit designers making use of traditional Inuit design motifs and clothing styles without obtaining permission or giving credit. In some cases, designers have altered original Inuit designs in a way that distorts their cultural context, but continue to label the products in a way that makes them appear to be authentically Inuit. Inuit designers have criticized this practice as cultural appropriation.

The fashion industry has taken inspiration from Inuit clothing since the polar exploration craze of the late 19th to early 20th centuries. The fur coat, in the sense of a full-length coat made with fur covering the exterior, did not appear in European fashion until this time – historically, fur had been used as a trim or a liner, but usually not as the basis for an entire garment. Fashion historian Jonathan Faiers argues that this trend may have been influenced by fur clothing encountered during polar exploration. The parka and the puffer jacket, now mainstays of Southern fashion, both developed from Inuit designs.

A Vogue cover from 1917 depicts a model clad in white fur spearing a polar bear. Her garments, while stylized and unrealistic, appear to take visual influence from the clothing of the Greenlanic Inuit. From approximately 1915 to 1921, curators at the American Museum of Natural History collaborated with fashion designers to create an American clothing style inspired by Indigenous cultures of North and South America, including the Inuit. In the 1920s, American designer Max Meyer drew inspiration from Inuit garments at the Brooklyn Museum. The 1922 film Nanook of the North has been a popular source of inspiration to fashion designers since its release.

Arctic- and Inuit-inspired clothing became trendy again in 1960s fashion, with the increased popularity of sportswear as fashion. Fashion photographs of these looks often included tropes of exoticism, savagery, and barbarianism, perpetuating the dominant Southern view of Indigenous peoples as uncivilized. Snow goggles, an Inuit device for protecting the eyes from snow blindness, were also interpreted by Southern designers during this era. French designer André Courrèges paired white plastic versions with his Space Age fashion. During the 1990s, Inuit-inspired clothing returned to prominence. French designer Jean Paul Gaultier and American designer Isaac Mizrahi both released collections which incorporated Inuit concepts for Fall/Winter 1994, titled Le Grande Voyage and Nanook of the North, respectively. Icelandic artist Björk walked the runway for Voyage in a jacket made of fur and skins. Mizrahi's collection paired parkas and furs with voluminous, brightly-colored evening gowns.

21st century: controversy and working with Inuit

Original shaman's parka, 1907

File:-KTZ shaman's parka copied design 2015.jpg

Garment by KTZ, 2015

In 2015, London-based design house KTZ released a collection which included a number of Inuit-inspired garments. Of particular note was a sweater with designs taken directly from historical photographs of an Inuit shaman's unique caribou parka. The garment, known variously as the Shaman's Parka or the Inuit Angakkuq Coat, is well-known to scholars of Inuit culture; Bernadette Driscoll Engelstad described it as "the most unique garment known to have been created in the Canadian Arctic." It was designed in the late 19th century by the angakkuq Qingailisaq and sewn by his wife, Ataguarjugusiq. Either Qingailisaq or his son, the angakkuq Ava, sold the coat to Captain George Comer in 1902, who brought it to the American Museum of Natural History. Its intricate designs, which resemble Koryak and Chukchi motifs, were inspired by spiritual visions. Ava's great-grandchildren criticized KTZ for failing to obtain permission to use the design from his family. After the criticism was picked up by the media, KTZ issued an apology and pulled the item from the market. French fashion designer Joseph Altuzarra had also drawn inspiration from the Shaman's Parka in his Fall/Winter 2012 collection, but to a lesser degree that did not result in controversy.

Some brands have made efforts to work with Inuit designers directly. In 2019, Canadian winterwear brand Canada Goose launched Project Atigi, commissioning fourteen Canadian Inuit seamstresses to each design a unique parka or amauti from materials provided by Canada Goose. The designers retained the rights to their designs. The parkas were displayed in New York City and Paris before being sold, and the proceeds, which amounted to approximately $80,000, were donated to national Inuit organization Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK). The original Project Atigi was criticized by some Inuit designers for not being sufficiently publicized to potential applicants.

The following year, the company released an expanded collection called Atigi 2.0, which involved eighteen seamstresses who produced a total of ninety parkas. The proceeds from the sales were again donated to ITK. Gavin Thompson, vice-president of corporate citizenship for Canada Goose told CBC that the brand had plans to continue expanding the project in the future. A parka from the original collection was displayed at the Inuk Style exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 2020. In 2022, Kakuktinnniq designed a capsule collection for the third iteration of Project Atigi. The advertising campaign for the collection featured Inuit women as models: throat singer Shina Novalinga, actress Marika Sila and model Willow Allen.