New Zealand Fashion - 5th Jan 2017

A few years ago, quite by chance, I went to visit the Eden Hore fashion collection. It's a museum not far from Naseby on the road to Dansey's Pass, set in the grounds of the Glenshee homestead. I have never had an interest in frocks or gowns of 1970s New Zealand and nor do I have any particular interest in fashion so I was pleasantly surprised by how absorbing the visit turned out to be.

Coincidentally, the museum also houses a huge display of whisky decanters (Jim Beam to be precise) and in many ways that was even more fascinating than the dresses.

But  that is all by the by. Remembering that trip caused me to glance through a book on New Zealand fashion that has recently arrived in the shop.

The Dress Circle: New Zealand Fashion Design since 1940
By Lucy Hammonds, Douglas Lloyd Jenkins & Claire Regnault

It covers 70 years of fashion and design in New Zealand. It is beautifully illustrated and the photographs pull you in even if you are a fashion Philistine like me. And even I recognised some of the great names in fashion history.  If I found the museum fascinating, then it occurred to me that there must be lots of people who would find this book irresistable.

Final recommendation - go and visit the museum.