In the 1970s, farmer and war veteran Eden Hore raised the eyebrows of his neighbours when he began collecting what he described as “high and exotic fashion”. Shimmering sequins, delicate tulle and frothy chiffon were not what one expected to find on a sheep and cattle farm.
“I’ve always been a bit different. A bachelor with all these dresses,” said the late Hore, who ran a sheep and cattle farm in Central Otago in New Zealand’s South Island before his death in 1997.
It was a time when not even museums or art galleries in New Zealand were building these kinds of collections. And yet, in 1975 a converted tractor shed on the rolling tussocked hills of Central Otago’s remote Māniatoto region became a makeshift fashion museum housing what is now recognised as one of the most significant collections of its kind in Australasia. A new book and exhibition celebrate Hore’s life and fashion collection, and also provides a snapshot of New Zealand in the 1970s and 80s.
Hore’s niece Jo Dowling, who helped out on the farm during the school holidays in the 1990s, says he was a pioneer in many ways.
“He was the first to do a lot of things in farming, like top dressing with a plane, catching wild deer for his farm, running his farm tours and then his garment collection,” Dowling says.
“He was his own unique person and some of his family couldn’t believe he was collecting gowns. It’s not the thing a man usually does.”
An enigmatic man of contradictions, equally comfortable wearing the customary farming attire of homespun woollen jerseys, moleskins and gumboots, Hore also loved to rock a bold leopard print shirt or batik fabrics down at the local pub.
In 1963 he was invited by his friend, the country singer John Grenell, to accompany him for moral support to the Miss New Zealand Pageant where the shy Grenell was to perform. Hore found himself backstage assisting with the show and was bewitched by the frocks and razzle.
Dress historian and honorary curator for the dress collection at Tūhura Otago Museum, Jane Malthus, is the co-author of Central Otago Couture: The Eden Hore Collection, which tells Hore’s remarkable story. Malthus, who has worked with the collection since the 1980s, remembers Hore as a quiet man who was driven by his own vision.
“He didn’t care what other people thought of him. He was willing to stand out in the crowd,” she says.
Claire Regnault, the senior curator at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and co-author of the book, agrees. “He was confident enough to step outside the box and be himself in an era when that wasn’t really done.”
Hore’s stock agent, Ren Lothian once said, “This frock thing … wasn’t the normal for a cocky in those days, not in the Mānaiatoto.”
Born in Naseby in Central Otago in 1919, Hore left school at 13 and worked mustering on farms until he was called up in the second world war.
In 1947, he bought Glenshee – an 8,100-hectare farm and its 4,000 sheep and homestead 8km from Naseby. Describing himself as an introvert, the chain-smoking Hore was known for his hard drinking, which probably stemmed from postwar trauma and the tragic death of his 13-year-old adopted daughter. He was also a hard worker, once boasting that he drove a tractor for 22 hours.
An innovative farmer and stockman, Hore was the first to bring cattle in the 1970s to the mostly sheep country. Malthus says Hore’s interest in textiles and fashion stemmed from his desire to know more about what could become of farm products such as wool, cattle skin and sheepskin.
A mid-1970s sheep leather pantsuit in pine green is a striking example of farm materials going on to have an inventive life.
When Hore died aged 78, he left his vast couture collection to his nephew. In 2013, the Central Otago District Council bought the collection of 226 garments plus accessories such as hats, shoes and costume jewellery for $40,000.
Regnault says Hore was attracted to sheers, sequins and Lurex, so the collection is distinctive of his own taste. But what unifies the garments is an emphasis on striking fabrics, textures, bold colours and exquisite detailing.
“They’re very characterful clothes. As soon as you see them you can imagine a story, a fantasy around them,” she says.
Hore had a keen eye for a good frock and a desire to inject a splash of exuberant colour in an otherwise austere, vast dry landscape.
“When you think of drab New Zealand at that time, he was creating this strange little oasis in the middle of nowhere. A magical world you stepped into,” says Regnault.
With his philanthropic community-focused spirit, Hore was a pioneer of rural tourism. When a railway line created a bypass, making the area a forgotten backwater, Eden wanted to attract tourism to the region. He also hosted garden parties and fashion shows to fundraise for the charity Plunket, churches and community groups. And he had other collections he would showcase, of taxidermised animals, imported exotic animals and collectible ceramic Jim Beam decanters.
“He really was a man before his time. He was very much, ‘You do you, and I’ll do me,’” says Regnault.
“Eden was trying to create something magical in this country at the bottom of the world.”
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Central Otago Couture: The Eden Hore Collection by Jane Malthus and Claire Regnault, photographs by Derek Henderson (Te Papa Press)
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Eden in Dunedin an exhibition showcasing highlights from the Eden Hore collection opens at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum 2 April
