Costume
Jay's Ltd
Category
Costume
Date
circa 1920
Materials
Cotton, feathers and glass beads
Measurements
360 mm (height); 480 mm (width); 30 mm (depth)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 671241.6
Summary
A feather headdress which is part of a children’s fancy dress costume based on a stereotypical representation of Native Americans. The headdress has a band of elasticated fabric to go across the forehead and pieces attached to go over the top of the head so that it forms a cap shape. There are twenty four brown and black feathers attached to the main band sticking upwards, and three at the back of the head pointing down. Each feather has a light brown coloured piece of fabric woven through the tip. At either side of the headdress there are strings of multi-coloured glass beads designed to hang in front of the ears when worn. The style of this headdress is likely based on the war bonnets worn by male leaders of the American Plains Indian Nations. These are traditionally made of eagle feathers, which are culturally significant for many peoples who have historically lived on the Interior Plains of North America. In the Indigenous communities from which war bonnets originate, they are of spiritual and political significance, and are traditionally only worn by male leaders who have earned the right to wear them. As such the wearing of 'fancy dress' versions is disrespectful to its Indigenous origins. This fancy dress costume was bought from Jay’s Ltd for a children’s party in the 1920s. The clothes and accessories that make up the costume reflect a generic ‘American Indian’ stereotype which was depicted in Wild West stage shows and later Western films. Caricatures in these entertainments informed the game of 'Cowboys and Indians' which became popular in the United States and United Kingdom.
Provenance
Owned by donor’s family and donated to the Museum of Childhood by Jane Osgood in March 2011.
Makers and roles
Jay's Ltd, manufacturer Jay's Ltd, retailer