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Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Art seen: June 5
"Eden in Dunedin" (Toitū Otago Settlers Museum) "Eden in Dunedin" displays many of the finest articles of women's clothing and accessories from the Eden Hore Central Otago fashion collection. Hore's remarkable and unique collection, assembled during the 1970s and 1980s and now owned by the Central Otago District Council, focuses primarily on the fine fashion of the era in which it was collected. From lush evening gowns to quirky daywear, we are transported into an era bookended by hippiedom and grunge styles, while also heavily influenced by earlier eras. The display showcases items from many top New Zealand designers, and ranges in style from Rosalie Gwilliam's heavily sequinned evening gown to James Jaye Leather's stark but sexy leather trouser-suit. June Mercer's award-winning crocheted outfit stands alongside Beverley Horne's startling merino and lurex gown and hot pants. Accessories range from Vinka Lucas's stunning flapper-inspired cloche hat to chunky but stylish leather shoulder-bags. Every item is thoroughly documented with interactive displays of text and photographs of the pieces being modelled. The exhibition is completed by video and photographic installations which provide not only further information about the overall collection but also a taste of its location and the process by which Eden Hore acquired the pieces. "Civil Twilight", Nicola Jackson (Brett McDowell Gallery) Brett McDowell Gallery is gaudily strewn with over 50 works by artist Nicola Jackson. The darkness of the artist's macabre humorous works is counterbalanced by the freshness and brightness of the colours of the pieces, giving the gallery a Dia del Muerte feel. With the works chosen at least partly to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Otago Medical School, many of the pieces focus on matters medical, with anatomies, maladies and remedies being front and centre. Whereas a few of the pieces are large, notably an impressive cotton quilt and a vibrantly pink jar, many of the works are small, icon-like pieces, with tiny images centred within equally artistic frames. There are strong elements of the surreal in the works and in the exhibition overall, the small paintings placed against guacamole-green walls and seemingly guarded by an array of gleefully grinning skulls. Two intriguing installations bookend the exhibition, both cabinets of curiosities. One is a vibrant collection of "Symptoms and medicaments", with shelves of happy, friendly viruses interspersed with tablets and capsules. The other, in extreme contrast, is an austere black and white, the jars of remedies adding their unnerving whimsy by virtue of their names. All are real medieval panaceas, with contents ranging from "milk and soot" to "knee dirt". "Inge Doesburg" (The Artist's Room) Inge Doesburg delights with her soft, misty landscapes at The Artist's Room. In a series of works which includes acrylic paintings, intaglio, dry-point and etching, the artist has captured the emptiness and airiness of the south. More experimental works, such as the meditative solar-etched tree of Soliloquy suggest that the artist is continuing to add strings to an already impressive artistic bow. Plaster is used to create texture in stark landscapes — or more correctly skyscapes — of Waipiata and the Wairarapa, turning the acrylic surfaces into gently toned gesso. There is a freedom to the mark-making in works such as Flagstaff Walk which are also an extension of Doesburg's previous work and an indication of her confidence in her style. In the current exhibition, Doesburg has extended her linking of art with poetry, drawing inspiration from the words of writers ranging from James K. Baxter to Goethe. Inspiration is also clearly taken from New Zealand art, with nods to Doesburg's antecedents in the McCahon-esque hills of From Flagstaff and Hotere-like style and composition of the Goethe-annotated Untitled . It is the artist's own hallmark style which takes centre stage, however, with works such as the rain-drenched Listening to the Mountain couplet, and Karitane , jutting like rusted roof-iron into a sleepy, milky Pacific. By James Dignan
Otago Daily Times
24-04-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Designer pods house fashion collection
A massive, high-tech "Lego set", inspired by the Maniototo landscape, has been created by a Dunedin company to display some of the country's top fashion. While most of the high-end outfits in Naseby farmer Eden Hore's collection of New Zealand fashion on show are in Dunedin, some are on display in Central Otago, encased in custom engineered "pods", designed by Dunedin company ZoomTech. Design engineer Richard Cathro said work on the pods began about five years ago, following discussions with Eden Hore collection steering group member and fashion historian Dr Jane Malthus, who already had a concept design for the cases. "I was a little intrigued about it," he said. Mr Cathro knew of the collection and had visited "the Eden Hore menagerie of things" and its caretaker while staying in the Maniototo as a child. "I could imagine at that time I was very reluctant to be dragged around looking at dresses," he said. Mr Hore amassed the largest collection of haute couture 1970s and '80s fashion in New Zealand — more than 270 gowns, primarily by the country's leading designers. The outfits were housed in a former tractor shed on his property until his death in 1997 and this month, a two year exhibit displaying collection highlights opened at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum. However, some items are also on display in ZoomTech's pods at small exhibitions at Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery in Alexandra and at Lohi in Ranfurly. Exhibiting the delicate clothes outside of museum conditions presented a challenge — "the only way you can put some of these clothes on display is in some means of that people can't touch them," Mr Cathro said. The solution was the airtight pods, made of about 300 pieces of wood, plexiglass and aluminium — "a massive Lego set to build" — with a computer-controlled air circulation system to prevent dust settling on the clothes. The pods' colours were inspired by the Maniototo landscape and fashion photographer Derek Henderson's images of the collection modelled in the Central Otago high country. Six pods had been constructed, though not all were in use, and ZoomTech had received huge input from the collection steering group. "The challenges to make this are beyond trying to write them down," Mr Cathro said. For example, the pod's plexiglass had to be bent, but "we couldn't find anyone to bend the plexiglass so we built a machine to do it." Since they went on display, Mr Cathro had fielded inquiries about the pods from Te Papa and had five women looking to display their wedding dresses in them. "We do a lot of work for overseas that no-one gets to see in New Zealand. So in lots of ways, this was a project that I could do that we could show off some of our work."
Otago Daily Times
22-04-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Innovation needed to fashion pods
A massive, high-tech "Lego set", inspired by the Maniototo landscape, has been created by a Dunedin company to display some of the country's top fashion. While most of the high-end outfits in Naseby farmer Eden Hore's collection of New Zealand fashion on show are in Dunedin, some are on display in Central Otago, encased in custom engineered "pods", designed by Dunedin company ZoomTech. Design engineer Richard Cathro said work on the pods began about five years ago, following discussions with Eden Hore collection steering group member and fashion historian Dr Jane Malthus, who already had a concept design for the cases. "I was a little intrigued about it," he said. Mr Cathro knew of the collection and had visited "the Eden Hore menagerie of things" and its caretaker while staying in the Maniototo as a child. "I could imagine at that time I was very reluctant to be dragged around looking at dresses," he said. Mr Hore amassed the largest collection of haute couture 1970s and '80s fashion in New Zealand — more than 270 gowns, primarily by the country's leading designers. The outfits were housed in a former tractor shed on his property until his death in 1997 and earlier this month a two-year exhibit displaying collection highlights opened at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum. However, some items are also on display in ZoomTech's pods at small exhibitions at Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery in Alexandra and at Lohi in Ranfurly. Exhibiting the delicate clothes outside of museum conditions presented a challenge — "the only way you can put some of these clothes on display is in some ... [way] that people can't touch them", Mr Cathro said. The solution was the airtight pods, made of about 300 pieces of wood, plexiglass and aluminium — "a massive Lego set to build" — with a computer-controlled air circulation system to prevent dust settling on the clothes. The pods' colours were inspired by the Maniototo landscape and fashion photographer Derek Henderson's images of the collection modelled in the Central Otago high country. Six pods had been constructed, though not all were in use, and ZoomTech had received huge input from the collection steering group. "The challenges to make this are beyond trying to write them down," Mr Cathro said. For example, the pod's plexiglass had to be bent, but "we couldn't find anyone to bend the plexiglass so we built a machine to do it". Since they went on display, Mr Cathro had fielded inquiries about the pods from Te Papa and women looking to display their wedding dresses in them. "We do a lot of work for overseas that no-one gets to see in New Zealand ... this was a project that I could do that we could show off some of our work."
The Guardian
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Sheep, cattle and sequins: the enigmatic New Zealand farmer behind a famed 1970s fashion collection
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.' Central Otago Couture: The Eden Hore Collection by Jane Malthus and Claire Regnault, photographs by Derek Henderson (Te Papa Press) Eden in Dunedin an exhibition showcasing highlights from the Eden Hore collection opens at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum 2 April
