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Given her upbringing, its no surprise that Brower is now a garment maker herself.
Photo: Courtesy of Meagan Anishinabie
Weve always been really sustainable with everything that we hunt, says Brower.
Seal is a big part of our diet.
As a young adult, my aunt showed me how to skin the seal and cut the meat.
Inupiaq fashion designerBobby BrowerofArctic Luxe
If were cooking it, were using pretty much all of itwe even make a delicacy with the intestines.
Well often disperse the meat to our family or anyone else who needs it, says Anishinabie.
To many, killing animals for fur is seen as cruel and outdated.
Meagan Anishinabie, an Anishininew artist from Sandy Lake First Nation in Canada
In the global mainstream industry, many fashion brands are now going fur-free as a result.
Major retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue have also shuttered their fur salons.
The momentum toward banishing furs has even spread to a state level: Last year California made selling furillegal.
Golga Oscar(center), a Yup’ik artist based in Bethel, Alaska
Theyre plastics and can shed their microfibers, says Gladman.
Indigenous peoples are not contributing large percentages to the production volumes for the global market, says Gladman.
It has to be honored in that way.
Anishinabie
Anishinabie works on a hide.
In many Indigenous communities, hunting is also essential for food security.
Anishinabie echoes the sentiment of her own Sandy Lake First Nation community.
A hat made from dyed fox fur and smoked elk hide, tanned by Anishinabie, with beadwork on melton wool
Where Im from, the cost of living and food is so high, she says.
[People] depend on wild game, whether its moose, rabbits, or fish.
The artist also maintains that, in some cases, hunting animals can benefit their local ecologies.
Blue fox-fur gauntlets made from commercial white elk hide with blue fox-fur trim, beaded florals on green velveteen, and rickrack and lined with imitation shearling by Anishinabie
Thats how you keep the [animal] populations healthy, she says.
Youre able to control it.
Oscar has seen this occur firsthand.
Oscar
One year a lot of coastal people found seal carcasses along the beach and the salmon run was affected.
Its getting harder for us to find certain seals or belugas.
A design by Brower
In the state, Itta has found it increasingly difficult to source her seal skins.
A headdress by Oscar
[Seal skin] is so hard to get, and its really expensive, says Brower.
A seal peltfor about a five-by-three-foot peltruns for about a thousand dollars in the United States.
My whole life living here, Ive never heard of anything like that happening.
A headdress by Oscar
My dad called me and said, you should probably go to the beach right now!
What we make isnt fast fashion, says Anishinabie.
These items will last generations.
Bobby Brower (right) with one of her designs
They hold their value.
For Brower, the design process for her fur creations also holds a more personal and poignant cultural meaning.
Doing traditional [designs] is like medicineits healing to me, says Brower.
A design by Brower
It makes me feel connected to my people and our traditions.
A design by Brower
