Sheep, cattle and sequins: the enigmatic New Zealand farmer behind a famed 1970s fashion collection

Pauline Kingston’s handspun, hand-dyed, hand-woven two-piece wool, Lurex and polyester hostess outfit from the early 1970s, seen in Central Otago Couture: The Eden Hore Collection. Photograph: Courtesy of Eden Hore Central Otago

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.