In August 2022 I was trusted to investigate this Sámi costume. It is always a huge honor to be trusted in the way that Forest Sámi people, who are discriminated minority among Finland's Sámi population, dare to show their costume heritage and even leave it in my house for proper investigations. There are not much left because of WWII actions in Lapland. At the end, in practical, almost everything was burnt down and territorial cessions accomplished as the result of peace negotiations. That's how we lost half of my own Kuolajärvi siida geographical area.
See the link below to find out how the brand new costume looks. First I made the patterns, then graded it smaller as he is shorter than his grandfather, but not too short so that his taller relatives can wear it too. Forest Sámi culture appears also in borrowing your items -even costume- to your close ones if they don't have their own. Forest Sámi always lived in a hard and poor way. One costume took 2-3 years of time to make when you started all they way from the material production. That's why it is understandable and acceptable to share instead of strict individual posses.
The only change we made for the costume is that we left out the front shield. The shields were add on the winter costumes to prevent the snow and wind get into. Today the Sámi costumes are used in special occasions, not at physical work and daily life, so the shield is more unpractical than practical. You can keep it or leave it out in Forest Sámi costumes. In this case we wanted to leave it out to create some space for the silver brooch to show up more clear. So, actually no changes were made and the new costume is exactly like the old one, just without the shield.
