Cash for curation of clothing collection

iD Fashion Week international guest Doris Raymond (right), watched by NHNZ executive producer...
iD Fashion Week international guest Doris Raymond (right), watched by NHNZ executive producer Judith Curran, examines a Kevin Berkahn garment in the Eden Hore Fashion Collection at Central Stories in April. Photo by Lynda van Kempen.

A grant of $40,000 - the same amount as the purchase price of the Eden Hore Fashion collection - will fund a study into curating and displaying the garments.

Since it bought the collection in 2013, the Central Otago District Council has fielded criticism about the purchase and the collection not yet being on display.

The council has received a Lotteries Commission World War One Commemorations, Environment and Heritage fund grant.

It has until May 2016 to complete the feasibility study into the long-term curation and display of the 276-item collection.

The grant is aimed at fostering the conservation, preservation and promotion of New Zealand's physical and cultural heritage.

Collected by Naseby farmer Eden Hore, the garments are regarded as the country's largest private collection of 1970s and 1980s fashion.

They were displayed at his property and when he died, Mr Hore left them to his nephew, John Steele.

Mr Steele retired from the property in 2013 because of ill health and offered the collection to the council in the hope it would remain intact and continue to be displayed in the Maniototo.

The international guest at iD Dunedin Fashion Week in May, Doris Raymond, viewed some of the Eden Hore garments, which are kept in controlled-atmosphere storage at Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery in Alexandra.

Ms Raymond is the star of NHNZ's L. A. Frock Stars, an expert on fashion history and the owner of Los Angeles vintage fashion outlet The Way We Wore.

She described the collection as ''a piece of history ... incredible gold'' and said it was a national treasure.

''I see a lot of clothing, but this is outstanding. This is like Christmas for me,'' she said after viewing the garments.

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