Beaded Leather Cloak

The Maasai are cattle raising semi nomadic people of Kenya and Tanzania. The are renowned for wearing hides decorated with beadwork.Divided into age groups, men and women wear age and gender specific garments. Girls wear a skin skirt, sometimes beaded. After marriage, a woman covers her breasts, either with a profusion of necklaces or with a leather cloak. A married woman completes her outfit with a large back skirt that covers a pubic apron. The beading can place the garments geographically, The Tanzanian Maasai have more ornate designs, use blue and red beads and stick to the traditional hides while the Kenyan Maasai prefer orange and light blue beads and wear factory made cloths.,