INSIDE WORLD'S COLDEST CITY: HOW ONE WOMAN SURVIVES -40

"It is quite common for the temperatures to reach -58 degrees Fahrenheit, sometimes lower," Yakovleva said.

Newsweek for Apple News Exclusive Feature

Going out in over three layers of wool, cashmere and fur might puzzle most Americans, but this outfit format is not a niche internet stunt, it is a mode of survival when living in the coldest inhabited place on Earth, Yakutsk, the capital of Russia’s Sakha Republic, known for its record-breaking temperatures.

The ice-cold city, which also has the unexpected ability to see over 86 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, regularly goes viral on platforms like YouTube where curious travelers and keen to share locals introduce far-away viewers to Yakutian life. But rarely do these videos share the basics of how those living in Yakutsk dress and live in the world's coldest city.

One woman, Alisa Yakovleva, has unintentionally changed that after gaining millions of views on Instagram for showing exactly what locals in Yakutsk wear during harsh winters.

Her video, posted under @alisa_yak on February 7, and viewed more than 3.7 million times, shows her getting dressed for Yakutsk at minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The clip is brisk, practical, quietly matter-of-fact, as Yakovleva puts on three-plus layers of clothing including a face covering, a large fur hat with ear flaps, two pairs of gloves stacked together, two pairs of trousers layered one over the other, and two pairs of socks.

"During winters it is quite common for the temperatures to reach minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit, or sometimes even lower," Yakovleva, 25, told Newsweek. "The conditions are harsh, but native Siberian peoples such as the Sakha, Evenks, Evens, Yukhagirs and Dolgans have been living here for centuries and learnt to adapt their whole lifestyle to such environments.

"Today it is a bit easier to live there with modern technology, such as central heating."

Alisa Yakovleva poses for professional photographs while wearing a large fur coat. Credit: @ALISA_YAK

Mean daily temperatures in December hover around minus 29.9 degrees Fahrenheit, cold enough that something as mundane as “getting ready” becomes its own elaborate routine, but as Yakovleva said, one that people native to the region have been passing down for decades.

To her surprise, Yakovleva’s well-meaning viral moment quickly collided with modern sensibilities around wearing animal fur.

In the video, her last layer of clothing is an old fur coat, and the response from viewers worldwide in opposition to that was immediate. She added in her caption that the fur coat and hat were her aunt’s and “several decades old."

In her view, the controversy missed the real context.

“The fur coat is not brand new... It has been passed down to me by my family and is something that is necessary to wear in Siberia,” she told Newsweek, choosing to invoke the local Yakutian saying: “A true Siberian is not the one who does not get cold, but the one who wears warm clothes.”

It is a line that lands differently depending on where you live. From afar, the internet often treats Yakutia as an extreme sport challenge, often questioning why anyone would stay there. Yakovleva has picked up on these comments too, finding some “amusing or silly,” including people asking why residents do not simply leave. But Yakutsk is not a thought experiment, she said. It is home to hundreds of thousands of people; a major city built on continuous permafrost.

If anything, distance has sharpened her sense of how unusual her upbringing was.

“A few years ago, I left Yakutia and moved to London, England," Yakovleva said. "Only then did I realize that I grew up in a very unique environment."

She added that many people “literally cannot wrap their heads” around life in Yakutia, often acting as though the 25-year-old came from a different planet. And so, she began translating her life, literally and culturally, through social media videos with English captions, trying to reach a wider audience.

Yakovleva aims to return home at least once a year and show Yakutia “from a local perspective rather than through stereotypes." She particularly wants to introduce people to the Sakha Republic, as she has recently learned that many people do not know where the Russian republic is—or that it even existed.

On a trip home in December 2025, she filmed the "minus 40 degrees" outfit routine she had worn as an everyday baseline for going outside. The attention included millions of views and waves of comments.

"I am really glad this video took off," Yakovleva said. "Giving me an audience interested in my home."

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