Far Northern Attire

[kaynide]

This is what I find odd. The Sami Council is the one issuing this statement, that Square Enix is appropriating their culture and selling an outfit based on the Gákti without consent or research.

But if you go on Twitter (I know, not the best location for these things), most people identifying themselves as Sami or with Sami-descent seem to be fine with this.

Probably a money thing then; Certain USA tribes have rights over certain patterns (like Navajo patterns) and need permission and/or royalties to use. Urban Outfitters (brand) had to reach some agreement with them over usage… so it is a thing.

[kyyninen_kirahvi]

This is what I find odd. The Sami Council is the one issuing this statement, that Square Enix is appropriating their culture and selling an outfit based on the Gákti without consent or research.

But if you go on Twitter (I know, not the best location for these things), most people identifying themselves as Sami or with Sami-descent seem to be fine with this.

As you have already said, Saami people don't agree on this. But generally the council is pretty aggressive with these kind of things so this was kind of expected of them. Square has alredy dismissed their complaint. From what I understand gákti has a lot of cultural significance. E.g. you can regonise where the person wearing it comes from, their marital status etc. I'm just Finnish so I don't have personal Saami perspective on this.

[Stormpeaks]

I hope their culture disappears and is forgotten. It’s what they deserve for this attitude.

big L take not gonna lie

[Rosenstrauch]

big L take not gonna lie

What, you don't wish death on minorities for not wanting to have their culture exploited by a corporation looking to make a quick buck?

[Britha]

Is this "council" even recognized by the broader Saami people?
Who exactly is on this supposed council?
They seem like outrage farmers trying to grift to me.

[Jin-]

Just ignore it. Like those few vocal Saami feminists. Small group not representing the majority. Only takes one to write an article and make it sound like there is a crisis in hand

[Burmecia]

this managed to hit me somewhere it causes knee-jerk...
=========

if it doesn't even try to pose itself as an authentic, what's the problem?

i'm non-sami (guess the ye olde word would be Lantalainen) who grew up near enough Sápmi, and my home village is part of the reindeer herding district.

i know how fxcking precious sami are with their gákti. unlike the pretty fantasy glamour in videogame, i would never think of wearing their overhyped padded tunics. the drama isn't worth it, also why would i?
as, if it's not exactly so and so, it is not REAL. so... if it, i mean the glamour set, doesn't even try to pose itself as authentic, what's the problem?

do they own blue colour now? red? weaved decorative laces and borders, embroidered details? gloves, belts, beanies?



people from northern siberia, (ya know those people who domesticated reindeer, while sami begun that business in 1800ish) nenets for example, use traditional clothing which look similar to sami costume. could it be that the cultural spheres have existed so close to one another that they have interchanged some of that shit?

EDIT
look at those russians stealing from poor sami





EDIT2 why i keep emphasising authenticity: sami themselves are pedantic about that stuff, supposedly the whole piece of clothing is full of small visual ques about wearers age, sex, marital status, area of origin etc.
i HIGHLY doubt the glamour checks any of those boxes correctly, because it is not gakti and was never mean to be
and as examples of highly similar looking traditional clothing is shared on this thread
i also HIGHLY doubt those other cultures bother to check boxes for sami, because what would be the point of that??

more similar clothing from...
mansi
selkup
veps
karelian
naganasan people

[Iscah]

do they own blue colour now? red? weaved decorative laces and borders, embroidered details? gloves, belts, beanies?

They're not trying to "claim the colour blue", though. They're claiming a specific combination of features that, evidently, people see in combination and say "hey, that's a Sami costume" and not "that looks like they referenced things like Sami and Nenet costumes". (In any case, they would be quite geographically close and presumably culturally linked? And I don't think they're going to mind another traditional culture in the same way they're going to mind an international company profiting off their cultural designs.)

Again, if you're building a "far northern" costume for a fantasy setting then it makes far more sense to me that you would research multiple real-world cultures from that climate, work out the common elements and add some invented specific details to the embroidery and colour scheme, rather than taking a single distinct cultural dress and dropping it straight in.

And if you know it's going to upset people from that culture, all the more reason to avoid it – at the most pragmatic level, to save on drama, even if you don't personally care about their feelings.

[Burmecia]

They're not trying to "claim the colour blue", though. They're claiming a specific combination of features that, evidently, people see in combination and say "hey, that's a Sami costume" and not "that looks like they referenced things like Sami and Nenet costumes". (In any case, they would be quite geographically close and presumably culturally linked? And I don't think they're going to mind another traditional culture in the same way they're going to mind an international company profiting off their cultural designs.)

Again, if you're building a "far northern" costume for a fantasy setting then it makes far more sense to me that you would research multiple real-world cultures from that climate, work out the common elements and add some invented specific details to the embroidery and colour scheme, rather than taking a single distinct cultural dress and dropping it straight in.

And if you know it's going to upset people from that culture, all the more reason to avoid it – at the most pragmatic level, to save on drama, even if you don't personally care about their feelings.

that's what i thought about the glamour set: "oh cool, looks like they have sought inspirations from siberian and sami traditional clothes".

it's not like we havent seen cultures of the planet earth inspire hydaelyn before.







and of course they aren't claiming blue, or whatever, because it benefits them to be vague. looks like they're claiming "elements of sami cultural property". elements which are already shared with other than sami cultures. remixed in (arguably) good faith for this stupid anime fantasy game.