In the new series North of North, which debuted on Netflix thsi week, Siaja (Anna Lambe) is a young Ink mother who is trying to reinvent herself in her tiny Arctic community—a fictitious town called Ice Cove, located in snowy Nunavut, Canada. As she snowmobiles around town in frigid conditions trying to grasp her own independence and direction, it’s hard not to take notice of the fabulous array of coats that she wears: traditional Inuit parkas called amautis or qulittaqs, which many other on the show rock too. “Our goal was to get it right culturally, and for it to be beautiful and modern,” says the show’s lead costume designer, Debra Hanson. “And to make the characters come alive.”
Working closely with Keenan ‘Nooks’ Lindell, an Inuk artist and close consultant on the series, Hanson’s costumes are a meaningful highlight of the new project. The cast’s colorful and bold collection of parkas, often lined with a variety of different furs, reflect the traditional outerwear that the Inuit community has long been wearing up in the north to stay warm. “Our communities are unique, because lot of people still sew a lot of their own clothes, like the parkas, mitts, hats, or sealskin boots (kamiks),” says Lindell. “Every community is vibrant and alive through their clothing.”
Photo: Jasper Savage/Courtesy of Netflix
