The Otago farmer who collected high fashion

An Otago tractor shed.

That’s where New Zealand’s most significant high fashion collection was stored in the 1970s and 1980s thanks to the dedication of high-country farmer, Eden Hore.

He thoroughly destroyed the stereotype of a typical farmer by collecting more than 200 garments, shoes, hats and other accessories in the hopes of bringing tourists to the small town of Naseby.

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A new book, Central Otago Couture: The Eden Hore Collection, celebrates the collection through story and photographs of the clothing backdropped by the area's iconic local landscape. An exhibition of highlights from the collection is set to open at the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum on April 2.

“He was a farmer first and foremost and he liked to travel in the winter and see other parts of the world,” said Jane Malthus, a dress historian who co-authored the book. The images were taken by photographer Derek Henderson.

“He had an idea of tourist attractions in various places and he wanted to create a tourist attraction for Naseby. In respect to his collecting, that was his driving force.”

Hore, who died in 1997 at the age of 78, organised garden parties to showcase the collection with some events raising funds for local churches. He took the collection around New Zealand and to Sydney, Australia to raise funds for the rural Flying Doctors service.

“He was quietly spoken except maybe when he was shouting at his stock. He was all kinds of things.”

“He had a real affinity for animals, there is no doubt about that but as we quote in the book a stock agent says ‘It was a pretty strange thing for somebody in that location, a farmer to be collecting New Zealand high fashion'.”

The collection highlights a thriving and creative fashion scene in New Zealand in the mid-20th century long before we saw the likes of Zambesi and Karen Walker. Designers represented in the collection include garments from Vinka Lucas, a bridal designer, and Colin Cole, a leading New Zealand designer from the 1950s to the 1980s.

“I think it is an important slice of New Zealand fashion history,” said Malthus.