DEREK HENDERSON
Kevin Berkahn evening dress and cape photographed at Bannockburn Sluicings, Central Otago, 2019.
Escape into the unexpectedly glamorous world of Eden Hore, a visionary farmer who collected more than 200 couture gowns in 1970s Aotearoa, in a new exhibition at The Dowse this summer.
Hore was a high country farmer from Naseby, Central Otago. Nationally admired for his farming prowess, he also amassed a collection of high fashion garments by designers who also sought escape from the everyday drabness of 1970s New Zealand.
Opening December 4, Eden Hore: High Fashion/High Country brings together some of Hore’s most glamorous gowns with new imagery, shot in Central Otago landscapes, by celebrated fashion photographer Derek Henderson and expat Kiwi stylist Megha Kapoor (recently appointed as Content Director of Vogue India).
It is the first time since the late 1980s that the collection has been presented in a stand-alone exhibition outside its South Island home, in a partnership between The Dowse and Central Otago District Council.
READ MORE:
* Feathermania at Te Papa: Murderous millinery on display showcasing decades of feathers in fashion
* Dolls, placards and telephones: dusting off Te Papa’s queer collection
* Dedicated follower of fashion
Derek Henderson
Lurex evening gown by Vinka Lucas, photographed at the Poolburn Dam, 2019.
Claire Regnault, senior curator of New Zealand histories and cultures at Te Papa and co-curator of High Fashion/High Country, said the Eden Hore Central Otago collection included some of the most flamboyant fashions created in New Zealand during the 1970s.
“Eden Hore’s collection offers a joyous riot of colour, pattern and optimism,” Regnault said. “It features designers such as Kevin Berkahn and Vinka Lucas who specialised in extravagant, special occasion garments, designed for women who wanted to be seen.”
- Eden Hore: High Fashion/High Country is free and part of the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts. Exhibition runs at the Dowse from December 4-March 20.
