#aleut

[formlines]

Making Plans

Allie High

[tinyuglyworld]

Aleut girl, Qagan Tayagungin, Aleutian Islands, Alaska

Source

[deathsmallcaps]

Question (and please keep the answers fairly simple I’m not a huge textiles guy): has there been a lot of cold environment cultures with non-fitted outfits?

I was thinking about this because it seems to be a growing trend among students to just bring blankets to wear to school when it’s cold*. And while there’s some cultural wear that uses skirts, kilts, robes and such as outerwear for cold weather outfits, a lot of it is fitted. Yes, keeping warm via trapped air is helpful but so is movement that doesn’t require you walking in a certain way so you don’t open a hole to the cold air. I’m especially thinking of Inuit peoples, where it seems that pants have always been a thing.

*im not sure if it’s a fashion choice or if it’s like. Their parents can’t/won’t buy them fitted warm articles of clothing and so blankets are one size fits all and can be layered etc. 

Now, I do know that the Yahgan people** historically just wore robes or went nude while covered in fats to stay warm. Going by Ushuaia’s coordinates (port town of the southern tip of South America, aka Tierra del Fuego) they were about as far south as Unalaska of the Aleutian Alaskan Islands is North. So not the coldest place you could go south, but still pretty damn cold and windy. And the Unangax̂ (Aleut) peoples wore fitted clothing.

**The Southernmost Indigenous people in the world. Prior to sub-Antarctic colonization by Europeans, no one had lived any further south. By the way, there’s another group with a similar name so I mean those who live in Argentina and Chile

I imagine access to plant textiles vs. skins affects these things, as well as wind - I think animal materials were historically better at keeping wet and wind out when you don’t have wax or other such treatments ? - but yeah.

TLDR: Generally cold weather cultures seem to have fitted clothes, but is that an accurate assessment of the majority?

@answeringmysister you might have some thoughts on this?

[bellasaraeternal]

“Give your imagination time, and it will find a way.”

[chitaayakuqing]

r u aleut? and if u are and don’t mind me asking where r u from? just going off the name lol

Aang, Unangax̂ akuqing! (Yes, I am Unangax̂/Aleut)

As to where I'm from, I'll try to explain while also keeping it vague enough for Internet privacy. We're from the Eastern side of the islands. We've lived in the lower 48 for several generations, and I grew up even further away than most of my family. I didn't meet any Unangan I wasn't related to until I was a teenager. But we have stayed somewhat connected. Culture camp is awesome. The language is hard.

[fashionsfromhistory]

Overcoat

Unangax̂ (Aleut) of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska

c.1820

Peabody Essex Museum (Object Number: E3662)

Learn more about the Unangax̂ at their website: https://www.apiai.org/

[corvidsofthedeep]

from the deep #24047: raven serigraph by Allie High at Stonington Gallery

This is a two-dimensional Raven design created for a drum titled “Raven & Sun Dream Catcher Drum”. High tweaked the imagery for this print slightly, but it is essentially a self portrait. She states, “There is Raven, I am the woman with the labret in the body, and the face on the wing is my son.”

[problemed-motherfucker]

I found a book that has some tlingit legends & stuff & im just here like tearing up lol.

Like, I was never told any of these, or any other 1s. It just feels nice, and bittersweet and such.

[Image ID: the cover of a book illustrated in monochrome brown and off white. It shows a raven cawing with its claws holding a small tree branch. Behind the tree there is a totem pole. The book is titled "The Raven and the Totem; Traditional Alaska Native Myths and Tales" the credits read "Collected and edited by John E. Smelcer" and "illustrated by Larry Vienneau and Susie Bevins"/.End ID]

[Image ID: the praface of the preiviously mentioned book reading "preface: this volume Contains ethnographic narratives from the following alaska Native groups: Tlingit, Eskimo (Yupic, Sugpiaq, Inupiaq), and Athabaskan Indians. Volume II, to be published within the next couple years will include 'folktales' from the Aleut, Haida, Tsimshian, ans Eyak linguistic groups" /.End ID]