Until European influences reached Greenland, Inuit clothing was exclusively crafted from various animal hides and skins obtained through hunting for sustenance. In the northern regions of Greenland, polar bear skin and fur, in addition to seal skins, were widely utilized for their warming and insulating properties. Further south in Greenland, sealskin, fox, and reindeer fur and skins were commonly employed.
Men's clothing had to be strong and warm enough to withstand and protect the man from the freezing air temperatures during long hunting journeys on the sea ice. Additionally, it needed to prevent the man from becoming soaked to the skin while hunting or travelling by sea kayak.
To ensure this, the skins had to be carefully selected and perfectly sewn. Being a skilled seamstress earned Inuit women great respect. As the saying goes, 'A man is what his wife makes him,' and if you, as an Inuit woman, could sew high-quality garments such as trousers, anoraks, and kamiks, you were often ensured a good existence. Today, such clothing is still frequently used in the far north of Greenland during winter and is also showcased in many museums.
In most of Greenland nowadays, people wear clothing similar to that in other Arctic regions for their day-to-day activities. It's common to see brands like Fjällräven and Canada Goose as regular outerwear and workwear. The traditional dress can now more be seen as the national costume.
With European influence and trade appearing in Greenland in the 17th and 18th centaury, came new materials such as glass beads and fabrics. These were traded into the communities and quickly became incorporated into traditional clothing as decorations, especially for festive attire, replacing the beads that were previously carved out of bone.
Today, three variations of the national dress are evident, based on geographic area:
Kalaallisut – The West Greenlandic National Dress: This is the most colourful variation, featuring elaborate glass bead collars, sealskin short pants, and beautifully decorated white kamiks.
Arnatuut – The Northwest (Thule Area) National Dress: This variation includes extra-long sealskin kamiks, arctic fox pants, and a black seal skin collar.
Tunumiutuut – The East Greenland National Dress: This dress has two variations – one made solely of sealskin and the other featuring a white anorak adorned with glass beads, dark pants, and high kamik boots richly adorned with floral embroidery or lace.
The male national costume is also elegant, though not as colourful. It consists of black or dark blue trousers and an anorak sewn from strong, high quality canvas. The anorak features a hood, a sewn-on breast pocket, and two additional pockets on the side of the jacket. The kamiks for men are shorter than those for women, with a wide decorative cuff at the top.
Today, the Greenlandic national costume is worn on special festive occasions such as Christmas, Easter, National Day, as well as personal occasions such as confirmation and weddings.
Wearing the national dress is also a way of paying tribute to skilled, national craftsmanship based on fine traditions. Recognizing the declining number of individuals possessing the necessary skills to create Greenlandic national dress, schools and dressmaker’s workshops have been established in recent decades to revitalize this traditional craft. Kalaallisuuliornermik ilinniarfik has been established in Sisimiut, and Kittat in Nuuk.
Text: Gunilla Lindh
