The newly launched New Zea­l­and Fash­ion Museum aims to pre­serve and cel­eb­rate New Zea­l­and’ fash­ion his­tory.

It does­n’t have a phys­ic­al loc­a­tion, instead dis­play­ing exhib­i­tions in pop-up loc­a­tions.

Its first exhib­i­tion is Look­ing Ter­rif­ic – the Story of El Jay, look­ing at the career of fash­ion design­er Gus Fish­er and his label El Jay.

El Jay held the exclus­ive New Zea­l­and licence for Chris­ti­an Dior design­ers, bring­ing eleg­ant frocks to New Zea­l­and women want­ing some Parisi­an chic.

The exhib­i­tion is on dis­play at Kirkal­die and Stains, which aptly enough was one of El Jay’s stock­ists back in the day.

The Look­ing Ter­rif­ic col­lec­tion spans 40 years of El Jay, from the ’40s to the ’80s, with all gar­ments bor­rowed from private col­lec­tions – often the ori­gin­al own­er.

The exhib­i­tion runs until 3 Octo­ber, and can be viewed inside (and out­side) Kirks on Lamb­ton Quay.