Linen Pullover Dress with Shell Beads Linen Pullover Dress with Shell Beads (front)

This is is a linen vest, sewed from two pieces of sackcloth. It has no collar and no sleeves, and is decorated with strings of beads. To make such a dress, people harvested giant clams and ground them into shell beads. Then strings of shell beads were stitiched onto the collar, cuffs, back or the whole body of the dress. It takes tens of thousands of shell beads to make such a dress. Only the tribal chiefs or heroes were allowed to wear it. It is a symbol of power, status and wealth. In the past, it can also be used as a betrothal gift or money.