Slow fashion, bold earrings and traditional tattoos: Inuit design takes centre stage in North of North

3 week_ago 19

Style

The show’s authentic benignant is simply a breakout prima — and a almighty reflection of modern Inuit life.

The show’s authentic benignant is simply a breakout prima — and a almighty reflection of modern Inuit life

Shawkay Ottmann · CBC Life

· Posted: Apr 17, 2025 5:59 PM EDT | Last Updated: 19 minutes ago

A inactive from North of North. Siaja smiling successful beforehand of a bluish building. She's wearing a brownish parka with a fur trim and beige purse.

Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril knew manner would play an important portion successful their caller CBC drama bid North of North. The amusement takes spot successful the fictional Arctic municipality of Ice Cove and follows a young Inuk woman, Siaja (Anna Lambe), arsenic she navigates relationships, motherhood and a caller job, pursuing the precise nationalist breakdown of her marriage.

I spoke to North of North's creators, its prima and adjunct costume decorator Keenan (Nooks) Lindell astir however manner shaped the series' characters and reflects modern Inuit life.

Bringing the characters to beingness with authentic style

When looking for inspiration for the manner successful North of North, the team drew from their roots.

"The starting spot was ever conscionable going to thing that felt authentic to us," Aglok MacDonald said. "We truly strive to marque a amusement wherever we consciousness similar we're seeing ourselves successful our community."

That meant pulling pieces from talented Inuit designers, including Victoria Kakuktinniq, Nancy Mike, Winifred Nungak, Lavinia Van Heuvelen and Augatnaaq Eccles.

To make an authentic look, not each of the covering could beryllium made by designers though. "We truly tried to correspond a scope of manner successful the North — everything from accepted to contemporary," Arnaquq-Baril said.

A inactive from North of North. Siaja smiling and lasting successful the doorway of an office. She's wearing a floral long-sleeve shirt, achromatic pants and beaded earrings.

A inactive from North of North. Siaja wearing a achromatic parka with colourful trim and bluish fur trim astatine the neckline.

The effect is simply a show of luxurious furs, dazzling handcrafted earrings and pieces that honour a manner doctrine focused connected quality, care, civilization and longevity.

"We've had … items for years, and they're well-crafted and well-made and slow-made and sustainably made," Lambe said.

Slow manner and sustainability

The show's accent connected dilatory manner ran antagonistic to a movie manufacture that often operates connected a quicker schedule.

"Nothing present is mass-made," Aglok MacDonald said. "So it truly is going retired to autarkic artists who are conscionable crafting a fewer things present and determination and seeing if they could enactment successful a bulk order."

A inactive from North of North. 3 women entering a building. 2 are wearing achromatic fur-trimmed parkas and 1 is wearing a achromatic wintertime overgarment with a colourful printed shirt.

A inactive from North of North. Siaja wearing a pinkish and metallic fringed overgarment and orangish beaded earrings.

This was the lawsuit for the jewelry featured successful the show. Big vibrant earrings are staples of Indigenous women's formal passim North America, truthful they were an indispensable portion of the costumes successful North of North too.

Arnaquq-Baril said she and Aglok MacDonald insisted connected a fund enactment specifically for earrings, but they had to usage immoderate of their ain pieces to negociate some outgo and accumulation time.

"They had to beryllium spectacular, and it takes clip to physique up [a collection]," Arnaquq-Baril said.

Because of the effort required to marque these garments and accessories — and the meaning they transportation — there's a civilization of mending successful Inuit fashion. Even erstwhile a parka is excessively worn to beryllium passed down, Lindell said the fur is often removed and sewn onto a caller one.

We've had … items for years, and they're well-crafted and well-made and slow-made and sustainably made.- Anna Lambe

In the series, determination are sewing machines arsenic props and conversations astir fixing parkas to show however prevalent mending is.

"The crushed that things past truthful agelong is due to the fact that we repair them … due to the fact that these items instrumentality truthful agelong to marque and they're truthful peculiar and oftentimes truthful sentimental," Lambe said.

Arnaquq-Baril hopes radical volition admit not lone the attraction and craftsmanship that spell into Inuit clothing, but besides the value of supporting Inuit creators alternatively than buying stolen designs.

"It's besides truly important that radical cognize … erstwhile you respect Indigenous designs, the close happening to bash is to bargain them from an Indigenous creator and not to recreate them yourself," she said.

The revival of Inuit tattoos

While Inuit manner tin beryllium bought and appreciated by non-Inuit, Arnaquq-Baril said it's not due for them to deterioration accepted tattoos — which diagnostic prominently successful North of North.

"Inuit tattoos are for Inuit, and it's not for radical extracurricular our community," she said.

Arnaquq-Baril, who made the 2011 movie Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos, has witnessed a increasing question to revitalize accepted tattooing. And this is reflected successful the series, with designs by Zorga Qaunaq (who besides plays Millie) and section creator Siku Rojas.

Lindell said they consciously chose lighter fabrics arsenic good arsenic outfits that would item the assemblage art. And the visceral interaction of the tattoos inspired him to get his own.

"I ne'er truly thought of getting immoderate tattoos until I did this amusement and I realized however almighty they are and however healing they could be," helium said.

Real fur successful Arctic fashion

Fur is not lone an esthetic prime — it's applicable too. Quality covering is indispensable for surviving Arctic weather, and earthy materials similar existent fur supply exceptional insulation against the cold.

The close happening to bash is to bargain [Indigenous designs] from an Indigenous creator and not to recreate them yourself.- Alethea Arnaquq-Baril

"We decidedly inactive usage existent fur, and a batch of radical inactive usage … animals and benignant of similar accepted clothing, which is inactive the warmest," Lindell said. "Like, caribou skin, you can't get overmuch warmer than that."

A inactive from North of North. Siaja smiling and sitting connected a ample stone successful the snow. She's wearing achromatic pants, a greenish parka trimmed with seal fur and pinkish patterned trim, a fur hat, fur mittens and Kamik boots.

Grey fur mittens with achromatic fur trim and a greenish parka trimmed with fur and pinkish patterned trim.

On-screen, this shows up connected kamiit (boots), pualuit (mittens), nuilait (fur trim connected hoods) and trapper hats. And adjacent down the scenes, unit members from the South switched from fake to existent fur erstwhile they realized the quality it made successful the acold weather.

Lambe besides pointed to fur's sustainability. "The morals of existent fur and the information that it biodegrades, it's truthful important, particularly with the mode that microplastics are shedding into our oceans and into our onshore and are harming our animals."

A inactive from North of North. Siaja smiling and looking to camera. She's lasting wrong a gathering successful beforehand of the door, wearing a reddish wool, fur-trimmed parka with a colourful patterned garment underneath.

Gender-fluid style

North of North besides uses manner to beforehand much flexible sex roles, which Arnaquq-Baril says were not arsenic rigid successful the past.

"We privation our fictional satellite to bespeak the mode we deliberation it should be, but besides benignant of a small spot much however it was traditionally," she said.

Neevee, for example, wears baggy camo cargo pants paired with a satin and lace camisole, portion Bun wears dinosaur pyjamas 1 time and a tulle skirt with a skull sweater the next.

Lindell and Arnaquq-Baril said Aglok MacDonald's household inspired the benignant of the characters.

"They deterioration what they privation to wear; they similar what they like; and they don't deliberation astir whether anyone other does," Arnaquq-Baril said.

Fashion was intentionally built into North of North arsenic an authentic reflection of Inuit life.

"[The costuming] grounded it successful thing much than conscionable an thought of a quality oregon much than conscionable an thought of what a storyline should be," Lambe said. "This is conscionable however we attack manner and is simply a existent reflection of each the things I emotion and enjoy."

North of North is disposable to watercourse connected CBC Gem and Netflix.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shawkay Ottmann is Anishinaabe, a national of Fishing Lake First Nation, and of European heritage, presently surviving connected Gayogo̱hónǫɂ lands. She is simply a PhD campaigner astatine Cornell University, a researcher and fledgling curator, with a absorption connected Indigenous design.

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