Central Otago Couture: The Eden Hore Collection: author biographies and interview

Jane Malthus, Claire Regnault, and Derek Henderson, the team behind Central Otago Couture: The Eden Hore Collection, discuss their work with Te Papa Press.

An image split into three each with a head shot of a person.

Right to left: Jane Malthus, Derek Henderson, and Claire Regnault

Q1: What is it about Eden Hore that makes his story and collection so compelling for each of you?

Jane Malthus: He was a quietly spoken farmer, driven by a desire to do something for his community, but that something was unexpected in a rural environment. It is the quirkiness, and the unexpected combination of various storylines: farming and the materials it produced, especially wool and leathers; Miss New Zealand; New Zealand high fashion designers; the tractor shed conversion and fashion shows of the collection around the country and in Australia.

Claire Regnault: For me, it was all the seeming contradictions in Eden’s story, along with the personalities, the myths and the realities, and the numerous rabbit holes to dive down. Although the collection is not that big, just over 270 garments, it contains a myriad of wonderful stories ready to be unpicked.

Q2: How have you each become involved with Eden Hore Central Otago (EHCO)?

Derek Henderson: I was asked in 2018 if I would be interested in taking some publicity pictures of the collection for the Central Otago District Council (CODC). I was intrigued by a Merino farmer who collected women’s clothes throughout the 1970s and 1980s in Aotearoa.

JM: I met Eden in the 1980s when I went to Glenshee (Eden’s farm) on behalf of Otago Museum to give advice about caring for the clothes. I researched and wrote a chapter called ‘One Man’s Fantasy’ in the book Looking Flash: Clothing in Aotearoa New Zealand (Auckland University Press, 2007). After CODC bought the collection, I helped catalogue and pack it. I am a member of their EHCO Steering Group and a patron of the Eden Hore Central Otago Trust.

CR: I recall first hearing about Eden Hore when I was in my early teens from my father who was in the wool industry. I visited the collection for the first time at Glenshee Station in 2011 with Jane Malthus when ideas were being discussed as to how to redisplay it. Several years later, after it was acquired by CODC, I was invited to join the steering group as a Te Papa representative to help guide its future.

Q3: How was this incredible collection rescued from ‘rural oblivion’?

JM: CODC bought the collection in 2013 to preserve it in the district, rather than let it be broken up and go elsewhere. They commissioned Tim Walker Associates to conduct a feasibility study about its future management and presentation. Since then, a number of projects have been instigated of which this book is one.

CR: In reality, the collection has never been in ‘rural oblivion’ – since its inception, Eden and his collection has always captured people’s imaginations and drawn them to Central Otago. He was a very good storyteller and knew how to attract the media. For decades, people haven’t been able to resist his intriguing story. For today’s generation, he is a wonderful example of someone who quietly refused to be pigeonholed and followed his own path.

Q4: Jane, what can you tell us about the exhibition at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum that you’ve also curated?

JM: The exhibition Eden in Dunedin showcases garments representing the breadth and depth of EHCO. High-fashion sequinned dresses, evening gowns, daywear, and garments made from wool and skins display the variety, colourfulness, and materiality of the collection. The designers represented were all well-known in fashion circles in the 1970s and 1980s but some have been rather forgotten since then: Kevin Berkahn, Vinka Lucas, John West, Rosalie Gwilliam, Jo Dunlap, Wapiti Handcrafts, Pat Hewitt, Pauline Kingston, Beverley Horne, June Mercer, Miranda Joel, Maritza Tschepp, Marjory Tschepp, Isabel Harris of Hullabaloo, Michael Mattar, Barbara Herrick of Babs Radon, Annie Bonza and James Jaye Leathers.

Q5: What can the collection tell us about high fashion in New Zealand in the 1970s and 1980s?

JM: High fashion designers often looked outwards from New Zealand for their inspiration, adopting and adapting ideas from Europe, inspired by fabulous fabrics from Europe and Japan. These decades saw social and cultural shifts in fashion as the baby-boom generation resisted the dictates of mainstream fashion, and influences came from sources outside the traditional fashion world. Eden was mostly collecting what he called high and exotic fashion, however, there are signs in the collection of this shift in progress such as hot pants, fringing and the influence of fantasy.

CR: It tells us that the 1970s and 1980s was an energetic time in our fashion history, populated by a range of charismatic designers who dreamed big, despite being at the bottom of the world. It was a time when the country’s fabric stores – of which there were many – were like an Aladdin’s Cave, full of rich and interesting fabrics from all over world. The competition circuit was strong, the New Zealand Wool Board was ever present, Wellington Polytechnic’s Clothing and Textile course was giving rise to a new generation of designers. Fashion was being made everywhere, not just in the big cities. It was a fascinating time.

Q6: Who are some of the New Zealand designers you hope readers will become more aware of through the collection and the book?

CR: Some of our wonderful weavers, particularly Beverley Horne from Napier and Pauline Kingston, a New Zealander living and working in Australia who won the Australian Gown of the Year in 1970. The 1970s was a great time for wool crafts, and Eden’s collection features some stunning examples of high-end woven and crocheted garments. With the popularity of handweaving on the rise again, it’s a good time to revisit these designers’ careers.

I also love the young designers in Eden’s collection who were pushing boundaries, such as Miranda Joel of Auckland’s Pussyfooting fame, and Maritza Tschepp, who won the Supreme Award at the Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Awards not long after graduating from the Wellington Polytechnic, with the fabulously titled Vision of an eccentric angel. Soon after, she moved to London and designed clothes for what was one of my favourite bands in the early 1980s, the Thompson Twins.

JM: Other designers that readers will encounter are Kevin Berkahn, Vinka Lucas, John West, Rosalie Gwilliam, Jo Dunlap, Wapiti Handcrafts, Pat Hewitt, June Mercer, Eleanor Joel, Marjory Tschepp, Isabel Harris of Hullabaloo, Michael Mattar, Barbara Herrick of Babs Radon and James Jaye Leathers.

Q7: The photographs in this book were taken during two photoshoots in Central Otago in 2024 and 2019. What were some your fondest memories from them?

JM: Seeing and experiencing the garments being worn and moving in the wonderful Central Otago landscapes was magical. The way the clothes came to life when being worn by such wonderful models as Hannah Clarke, Ngahuia Williams and Alannah Kwant was enlightening. I loved visualising and matching garments to locations – we started with a plan in advance, but sometimes that altered out in the landscape because of weather, site, and light for example.

Looking after the garments and the models while they were out in the environment was a challenge. While the collection is not in a museum, we all want to preserve it for posterity, so were very careful about handling, where and how models changed into and out of them, keeping them away from sources of soiling, etc. In the images in the book you can’t see the protective ground coverings, the hot water bottles, rugs and dressing gowns to keep the models warm (because we were often out at dawn and dusk to get the best light), the vans kitted out with garment racks and bags, dust covers, or some of the roads we travelled on to get to our locations!

CR: My best memory from the first shoot in 2019 was the preparation day, when we began to unbox garments to show to Derek and stylist Megha Kapoor. It was the first time Megha had seen the collection, and it was so wonderful to view it through her fresh eyes as she marvelled over the fabrics, saw connections to some of the latest Paris shows and potential that we had not seen. As a museum curator, I’m used to garments that are only destined to be put on mannequins. Seeing them worn by a live model, felt like they had been resuscitated and given another chance to show off and sparkle.

DH: I particularly like the arid landscape, big skies, long straight dusty roads, old mining towns of Central Otago. It can be the hottest place in Aotearoa and the coldest, and it really is one of my favourite places in the country. There was the generosity of the locals in giving the team access to take photographs on their property. Everyone I dealt with at the council was so helpful and friendly. There’s something really special about working with a team that you spend three weeks with; I love getting up early every morning going to stunning locations and taking images of beautiful women in amazing garments. It has an ephemeral feel to it, but once the picture is taken and it is there forever – I live for that. Moments of heightened awareness are fleeting and very special. I always admire the talent in front of the camera as they have to deal with the elements. The crew is wrapped up in their coats at 5:30 am while the models are wearing the thinnest of garments and have to appear like they are not freezing to death. I really appreciate how Hannah, Alannah and Ngahuia did that and their massive contribution to the project.

Q8: Which have been your favourite individual garments or images from the book and why?

JM: All of them! But if I have to pick, for me it is about the combination of place, garment and light.

There is an image at Wedderburn Station shed (see sample pages). It is such an iconic location and a dress by Alexandra based Pat Hewitt in a typical 70s fabric, probably made in New Zealand, bought by Eden Hore in Palmerston North and made into a dress with gorgeous shape, thanks to its cut and that back lacing.