Adoption and adaptation in Iñupiat fashion: Past and present

Abstract

This article presents and discusses the development of Iñupiat (North Alaskan Inuit) fashion of atikłuk (‘inner garment’) and atigi (‘outerwear’) over time, with a focus on adoption and adaptation, linked to the concept of cultural authentication. It is based on the author’s fieldwork in the winter of 1997 and the summer of 1998, which included participant observations and interviews with seamstresses from the Iñupiat villages of Kaktovik and Utqiaġvik at the North Slope of Alaska, literature reviews, observations from museums and archival photos. The second part of this article involves a case study that focuses on a young Iñupiat trans woman and her mother in 2022. Together they designed a new fabric (instead of leather) for an atikłuk. The case show how she adopts the contemporary Iñupiat garment and adapts it to her own style.