‘Eden in Dunedin’ brings fashion to Toitu

By ODT - Mark John | Posted: Wednesday Apr 02, 2025

A carefully curated collection of high-end fashion apparel is now on show at a museum in Dunedin.

‘Eden in Dunedin’ brings fashion to Toitu | Otago Daily Times Online News

Fashionable farmer Eden Hore’s clothing collection is on display at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum in the "Eden in Dunedin" exhibition.

The exhibition - as well as a book about the collection, Central Otago Couture  - were launched as part of the opening event for iD Dunedin Fashion Week at the museum last night.

The book was co-authored by dress historian Dr Jane Malthus and Te Papa New Zealand Histories and Cultures senior curator Claire Regnault.

Dr Malthus said the pair started talking about writing the book in 2023, but had been researching the Eden Hore collection for years.

She said she was interested in the collection because "it’s not your usual everyday kind of story".

Ms Regnault said in the process of gathering information for the book, the pair met a number of designers from the collection and had the opportunity to look through their scrapbooks.

She said Mr Hore was very strategic when he bought for his collection because he wanted to bring people to Central Otago.

Rural tourism was becoming popular in the 1970s and was bringing more money to the area, so Mr Hore decided to add a makeshift museum with more than 220 high-end fashion dresses in an old tractor shed.

The attraction was an addition to the safari tours he offered at Glenshee Station in the tussocked hills of the Maniototo. The station also included a petting zoo.

There was something for everyone to do at the station, Ms Regnault said.

"I always think of Glenshee as a strange little oasis of oddness in the middle of Central Otago where you could sort of just slip into this fantasy world.

"It was very much about trying to bring people into the region he loved."

Mr Hore’s collection included mainly New Zealand designed garments from the 1970s through to the late 1990s.

He acquired the collection by being proactive and forming relationships with various designers around the country.

Ms Regnault said he was not necessarily a fashionable man himself and mostly preferred to wear homespun jerseys and white overalls.

She said putting the book together had been a fun project and an amazing opportunity to work with Dr Malthus and acclaimed fashion photographer Derek Henderson.