Arctic Clothing of North America-Alaska, Canada, Greenland

In the Arctic, well designed and superbly tailored clothing allows people to hunt and survive in the world's harshest conditions. Both sea and land animals, birds and fish, provide raw materials for the creation of unique forms of highly efficient clothing - different types of parkas, trousers, layered footwear, gloves and headwear. Such clothing not only protects people but also connects societies to the environment that they inhabit and expresses the continuing importance of animals, birds and fish to these communities. Arctic clothing encompasses a great diversity of national and community styles and also contemporary and traditional costume making. Questions of identity, the semiotics and function of dress, and the copyright and ownership of design are explored along with the nature of people's creativity in rapidly changing traditional societies. The contemporary issues of changes in clothing, the importation of manufactured materials, developments in fashion, clothing and art, and the adaptation of Native clothing by explorers and for sportswear are all examined. Several essays address previously unpublished areas such as fish-skin clothing, hairnets, the use of grass, birds and costume, and kayak clothing.