How a 1970s high country farmer developed such a keen eye for haute couture will probably always be a bit of a mystery, but the fact that he did, is still intriguing the public decades later.

Eden Hore, who died in 1997 aged 78 years, was a successful businessman who collected and displayed not just fashion and accessories at his Naseby farm, but also exotic animals, plants and vehicles.

Many of the flamboyant gowns he purchased were the pick of New Zealand’s top designers of the time, often featuring suede, wool and leather.

The Central Otago District Council (CODC) purchased the collection of more than 200 gowns from Mr Hore’s descendants in 2014 and in 2019 an expert team, led by renowned photographer Derek Henderson, created a series of photographs set in stunning Central Otago landscapes.

The photographs are testimony, according to a press release from CODC, to the collaborative efforts of many helpers, fashion curators and textile conservation specialists, all drawn by the mystique of the Eden Hore Central Otago collection.

The collection is “on tour” around Central Otago and had already been met with great interest and enthusiasm in Naseby and Alexandra.

The large-scale images will be displayed in the elegant McNulty House in Cromwell during March.

At Alexandra’s Central Stories Museum & Art Gallery, the display was viewed by more than 620 people, many of whom had fond memories and fascinating stories to share around the Eden Hore Collection, according to CODC’s community and engagement manager Paula Penno.

“The exhibition is helping us discover old tales and connections from people with personal recollections of this high-county farmer and his exquisite fashion collection.

"It’s also helping us introduce Eden to people who are unfamiliar with this unique story.”

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Co-curator of the Eden Hore: High Country High Fashion exhibition in Wellington, Josephine Hughes, inspects a Kevin Berkahn dress, one of more than 200 that make up the Eden Hore collection. At right is Margarita Robertson and at rear (obscured) are fashion historian Jane Malthus and NOM*d creator Claire Regnault. Images of the gowns, shot in Central Otago, will feature at an exhibition opening soon in Cromwell. None of the dresses themselves will feature at the exhibition but the scale of the images, the settings and styling create a unique and inspirational look into the collection.

The photography project was developed in partnership with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongawera and CODC to bring Mr Hore’s exceptional collection alive and demonstrate its relevance to contemporary fashion and design, within its Central Otago “home”.

The photographic exhibition coincides with the “Eden Hore: High Fashion/High Country” feature exhibition, which is currently showing at one of New Zealand’s leading contemporary art galleries – The Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt.

The Dowse exhibition features these photographs alongside 25 of Eden’s couture garments and is on display until March 22, 2022.

At McNulty House, which is part of the Cromwell Heritage Precinct off Inniscort Street, the exhibition will be open from March 11 to 21, from 10am until 2pm daily.

The elegant historic homestead is looked after by Old Cromwell Incorporated, which completed a major rebuild and refurbishment of the property last year.