"Cowboys and Indians" Beauty Showdown

Native American anger at ‘Cowboy and Indian’ Trafford Centre Beauty Showdown event

Tribe member says the posters around the shopping centre are as bad as ‘blacking up’. Trafford centre bosses say they regretted any upset caused

By Amy GlendinningA Native American tribe member has attacked as offensive a Cowboys and Indians-themed make-up promotion at the Trafford Centre.

Autumn DePoe-Hughes said posters around the centre showing white models posing in male war head-dress are ‘the same as someone blacking up’.

Trafford Centre bosses said they regretted any upset the posters for their Beauty Showdown event had caused.

Ms DePoe-Hughes a member of the Constitutional Tribe of Siletz, moved to Greater Manchester from Oregon in America last year. She lives in Prestwich with husband Neil Hughes and one-year-old baby Elias.

She made a formal complaint about photographs of a female model wearing a feather headdress–known to Native Americans as a war bonnet–and a ‘war paint wigwam’ where women can have make-up consultations.

They are part of a promotional campaign with make-up demonstrations and sales.Comment:  The makeup in the photos looks horrible. I hope these are "before" rather than "after" pictures.

After a brief respite in December, we may be seeing a new onslaught of non-Indians playing dress-up in headdresses and costumes. Will these idiots ever learn?

For more on the subject, see Columnist Defends Mummers Parade and Seminole Fans in Plains Headdresses.