#4547 Ceremonial Beaded Skirt Kirdi Pikuran Cameroon

17.5" w by 8.5" h with the shells 

Among some Cameroon groups, women simply wore pubic aprons also known as 'caches sexes’ in various writings (literally - ‘to hide the sex’) until approximately 1961, when governmental restrictions required women to be fully clothed. However the tradition continues in a number of ornate beaded forms worn today.

Living in the area of the Mandara mountains, Matakam women of northern Cameroon wore pubic aprons made of small iron strips covering the sex and held in place by a belt of fiber.