Bamileke Headdress, Cameroon

Red and rowdy, a shaggy sun with no interest in a tidy outline.

This contemporary Bamileke feather headdress is Bamileke, from Cameroon, Central Africa, and is contemporary. Headdresses are made by attaching feathers or other materials to a woven or cloth base, a technique that allows a wide range of shapes. Dense round mass of long red plumes, darker crimson near the core and brighter toward the spiky ends. The strands fan out unevenly, giving the edge a tousled, jagged look. It is 7 inches high and 18 in diameter.

Loud on purpose, and good at it.