High Fashion at Glenshee Park

A trip from Naseby and on to the unsealed Danseys Pass Road brought us to Glenshee Park Fashion Museum and Gallery, another “must see” places on my South Island list of things to do.  The late Eden Hore, a sheep farmer, also had a love of fashion, and collected over 200 gowns during the 70s and 80s, with many of the garments being finalists in the Benson and Hedges Awards.  Mr Hore used to hold fashion shows on his front lawn, and converted his tractor shed into a display room for his collection.  It cost a very reasonable charge of $5 to enter the museum, which also houses a huge collection of Jim Beam decanters, much to Robin’s delight.  The gowns are housed in glass fabric cabinets, with most of them hanging up on hangers not unlike a wardrobe, so it is not always possible to view each gown in detail.

A cabinet of gowns

Wedding gowns

What I really loved was that most of the gowns were very feminine, featuring lace, beads, embroidery, and several with boa feather details.  Not like the entrants in the “Wearable Art Awards” these days which don’t, to my mind anyway, look like dresses at all.

  Pretty in peach

And another in blue

She looks like she means business!

Now about those Jim Beam decanters -  Eden Hore had collected over 450 of these, in all shapes and sizes.  For a touch of culture - how about this Opera series.

Jim Beam Opera series

There is also quite a large display of taxidermy.  All the animals lived on the farm, we were told, including the large woolly yak.  You don’t see many of these in NZ paddocks, do you?

They’ve been stuffed!

I’m so pleased that I can put a “big tick” beside Glenshee Park on my list of things to do and places to go.  Margaret Steele very graciously opened up the gallery for me and which I really appreciate.  So any one who loves fashion, next time you are in this neck of the woods, it is certainly worth stopping and taking a look.  The men will enjoy checking out the Jim Beam decanters while the ladies drool over the beautiful gowns.

Remember that you can keep up with our South Island Odyssey Trip on our Travel Blog on www.romanyrambler.blogspot.com