Arctic clothing

Unfortunately, there is no documentation on this beautiful woman’s outer parka. However, the design of the costume, particularly the shape of the back flap and the decoration on the garment’s edges, indicate that it was made in Nunavik or Labrador. The back flap is narrow, curving slightly inwards below the waist, and ending in a rounded tip. The decoration with bands of contrasting white and dark stripes of sealskin at the edges of the garment are characteristic of costumes from this part of the eastern Canadian Arctic.

​Traditional Arctic clothing consists of two layers of caribou skin garments. Caribou skin is used because the hollow hair follicles contain an air bubble; they also trap insulating air. The inner layer has the fur turned inwards towards the skin, while the outer layer has the fur turned outwards. A pocket of insulating air is caught between the body and the two layers of clothing.

Amauti of this style were used by the Inuit of Labrador until their costume changed through the influence of missionaries in the eighteenth century. Thus, it is possible that the amauti dates to the very first years of contact. It may have been worn by one of the Inuit women brought to England by British explorers, who often brought back inhabitants to prove their discoveries. Many of these captured Inuit were painted by European artists, and the paintings – although varying in accuracy of representation – remain valuable documents of Inuit clothing from that time.

Alternatively, the amauti could have been made somewhat later by Inuit of Nunavik. It is very similar to an amauti now in the McCord Museum, Canada that was collected by Dr William Wakeham in 1897, probably on the southern shores of Hudson Strait. This amauti may have been made around the same time in that area.

Kamleikas are outer garments made of sea mammal gut, an extremely light, tough, and waterproof material. They were sewn with grass or sinew threads which expanded when soaked, making the garment waterproof. Among the Aleut, hooded kamleikas were worn as protection against wind and rain over a birdskin or fur parka. These rather sparsely decorated everyday garments usually had drawstrings around the hood and at the cuffs. Although strong, gut can tear, and of course wears out with frequent use. Aleut men, who used their kamleikas almost daily, needed about three new garments each year. Each would take about a month to make.

The Aleut also made beautiful kamleikas for festive or ceremonial occasions. These were hoodless, with a high collar and decorative bands of colored skin at the collar, cuffs, and hem. Such parkas, like this example from the nineteenth century, were extremely valuable status symbols and articles for trading. After contact, they were given as gifts or sold to visiting Europeans and Russian officials, who appreciated them for their beauty and usefulness.

The gut used to make these kamleikas only stays flexible as long as it is saturated with water. In use, gut parkas were stored by rolling when damp, and were again dampened before unrolling. By the time they are brought to the Museum, they have usually become stiff, brittle and misshapen. Therefore, before display, the hardened gut of this kamleika was relaxed using water vapor. As the garment regained flexibility, it was gradually cleaned and reshaped into its original form. Holes, tears and loose elements of the decorative bands were then secured and supported with an adhesive and tinted Japanese tissue paper.

J.C.H. King, First peoples, first contacts (London, The British Museum Press, 1999).

B.K. Issenman, Sinew of survival: the living (Vancouver, UBC Press, 1997).

J.E. Oakes and R. Riewe, Our boots: an Inuit womans art(New York, Thames and Hudson, 1996).

© Trustees of the British Museum