Inner Boots Item Number: 565/1 a-b from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Pair of inner stockings of caribou skin with the fur on the inside. The stockings reach to the knee and are higher in the front than in the back. The stockings consist of a piece of skin forming the sole, a vamp section and a large piece of skin that forms the leg section with a seam in the back of the leg.

History Of Use

Usually worn inside outer stockings and/or boots.
The insulating capability of animal skins is enhanced by the practice of wearing two layers of skin clothing, especially in winter. One layer of clothing is worn with the fur on the inside and a second layer is worn with the fur on the outside. The clothing also is designed so as to minimize ingress of wind and cold. During winter men and women wear two hooded waist-length coats, two pairs of trousers, two pairs of stockings and boots, and mittens. Men often wear a longer, heavier outer coat when outdoors in winter. While mass-produced clothing from the south is now commonly worn, the making of skin clothing is being revived in the Arctic.
In the Arctic, the making of clothing is considered as important as the creation of sacred objects. Aside from its important function as protection against the cold, clothing is imbued with power and spirituality. Women as seamstresses play an extremely important role in the expression of cultural value and meaning. The clothing of each group is cut and decorated according to distinctive cultural aesthetics. In addition to expressing the group’s identity, seamstresses express the beliefs and values of the group through clothing, which marks social identities like gender, age, childbearing status, and geographical origin. Clothing also expresses the special relationship of people in the Arctic with the animal world. People, animals, and spirits are subject to metamorphosis. Clothing often refers to this ability to transform, and could effect such a metamorphosis.

Specific Techniques

The pieces are sewn together with an overcast stitch.

Cultural Context

footwear

Narrative

Collected somewhere in the area of Great Slave Lake, but thought to originate from the Inuinnait.

Item History

What

Name
Inner Boots
Identification Number
565/1 a-b
Type of Item
boot
Material
caribou skin and caribou sinew
Manufacturing Technique
cut, pieced and sewn
Part B
height 60.0 cm, width 7.5 cm, depth 24.5 cm
Part A
height 59.0 cm, width 8.0 cm, depth 25.0 cm

Who

Culture
Inuit: Inuinnait
Previous Owner
T. P. O'Kelly and Evelyn O'Neil
Received from
Evelyn O'Neil (Donor)

Where

Holding Institution
MOA: University of British Columbia
Made in
Nunavut, Canada

When

Collection Date
before 1914
Ownership Date
before November 9, 1979
Acquisition Date
on November 9, 1979

Other

Condition
fair
Accession Number
0565/0001 a-b