The Arctic beauty from Nunavut
In early September 2014, Saila Qilavvaq flew in from Canada to join the Kit’s Couture team. Saila (pronounced Sigh-lah) is one of the Maplelea Girls, often referred to as ‘Canadian Girls’ as they are similar in size and makeup to American Girl, but designed in Canada specifically to appeal to the Canadian market.
Saila is, I think, unique in that she’s an ethnic Inuit doll, carefully developed by Maplelea to be as authentic as possible. Her back story is that she’s a 10-year-old girl who lives with her family in Iqaluit, in Nunavut territory, and through her journal we learn about her life in the Canadian north. There is an excellent review of Saila on the Toy Box Philosopher’s blog.
Trying out some summer gear in the warm UK climate
Click to enlarge
Saila is similar to American Girl in that she is a five-jointed, soft-bodied standing doll. However she is taller than American Girl at 19″, and her limbs are more slender. Her feet are narrower and longer than American Girl, so none of the shoes in the Kit’s Couture wardrobe would fit her. However, she came prepared with three pairs of shoes and of course she has her wonderful kamiik (Inuit boots).
Unusually, Saila’s hands are designed to clasp together, making it possible for her to take on some demure poses, as well as hold various sporting items or wave a Canadian flag!
Of course the big question when she arrived was what was her colour season? We tried on various outfits in the Kit’s Couture wardrobe and I came to the tentative conclusion that she was probably a Winter. This was confirmed by a trip to the Kit’s Couture colour consultant, Christine, who produced various lengths of material from her store and quickly demonstrated that she was a Winter girl who looked best in patterns and particularly good in cool winter blues. Since she’s from a part of the world where it snows pretty much all year around, and a warm July day might just reach as high as 12°C, this seems the perfect season for her.
Saila: vital statistics
- 19″ sturdy bodied doll
- Cloth body, vinyl head and limbs
- 5 strung joints
- Brown sleepy eyes
- Brown-black wigged hair
- Season: Winter
