Wearing a Cree-inspired, fringed leather bikini encrusted with rhinestones and a feathered war bonnet, the woman representing Canada at the Miss Universe pageant 2008 in Vietnam appeared before more than one billion global TV viewers on July 13. Samantha Tajik, 26, who was born in Iran, grew up in Vancouver, and now lives in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

Yesterday, however, one of Canada’s foremost aboriginal designers called Tajik’s national costume “offensive”. Dorothy Grant told the Georgia Straight that sexualizing the war bonnet is tantamount to sexualizing another cultures’ spiritual symbol.

“A war bonnet to Cree people or the Prairie Indian people, it’s a sacred thing,” she said. “It’s used in ceremonies, in peace treaties, used in official addresses. It’s not used as a costume to walk on a stage with a deer-skin bikini.”

The Miss Universe Canada organization, Beauties of Canada, and Miss Universe didn’t respond to the Straight’s calls.

In the past, Canada’s choices for the national costume portion of the pageant have varied widely. In 2007, for example, Inga Skaya wore a skintight Toronto Maple Leafs costume, complete with helmet and hockey stick, plus stiletto white-and-blue-striped boots.

Natalie Glebova, Miss Universe Canada 2005 (who won that year’s global title), wore a cookie-monster blue feathered national costume that would have been ostentatious even in Las Vegas.

Grant said she didn’t have a problem with the choice of a First Nations “look” for Canada’s national costume; she only wishes it had been done with “more elegance”. Historically, she said, First Nations people have struggled with Hollywood versions of their culture, and this fringed bikini—in front of one of the world’s largest TV audiences—didn’t help.

Vancouver-based designer Denise Brillon, whose background is Cree and French, said it was “an honour” that Miss Universe chose a First Nations themed national costume. But she echoed Grant’s concerns.

“In all honesty, it looks like a Playboy bunny outfit,” she said. “Did the national outfit for the Scottish have a short little kilt with a bra top with a kilt pin attaching it all together? Or did the contestant from France wear a French maid outfit?”

Nope. The United Kingdom’s national costume was a modest ball gown featuring the Union Jack. France’s was a striking translucent lace sheath, with square flag wings. In fact, most other countries’ national costumes were more modest than Canada’s.

Brillon denigrated Canada’s choice to bare all for the sake of attention, saying this was no kind of role model for the young girls who watch the pageants.