Gus Fisher (fashion)


Gurshon "Gus" Fisher was a philanthropist and leading figure in the New Zealand fashion industry. He headed the fashion house El Jay for 50 years, introducing Parisian style to New Zealand, and was the New Zealand agent for Christian Dior for 33 years from 1955 until 1988. In 2001 The University of Auckland opened the Gus Fisher Gallery, named after him in recognition of his contribution to the gallery. In 2010, Fisher and his wife Irene were the recipients of the fifth annual Arts Foundation of New Zealand Award for Patronage.
Gus had a love of beauty and he was a passionate collector of painting, sculpture and objects d'arte.

Life

Fisher was born in Paraparaumu, New Zealand on 11 December 1920. He was the youngest of six children of parents Michael Fisher and Fanny Dabscheck. His father, Michael was a Jewish immigrant from Shumsk in the Ukraine via London. His mother, Fanny was the daughter of Russian Jews who had immigrated to Australia. Gus was eight years younger than his eldest brother Sir Woolf Fisher, co-founder of Fisher and Paykel, the very successful whiteware company.
At 15, Gus left school and went to work for his second brother Louis Jacob. Lou founded El Jay as a whiteware importing and distribution business. After the imposition of whiteware import tariffs Lou decided to diversify and began to manufacture women's clothing. This is where Gus Fisher excelled.
Gus Fisher served in Tonga during World War II as a gunnery sergeant. He returned to Auckland in 1945 to become managing director of El Jay.
He then went on to have a son named Michael Fisher. He then had two Grandchildren named Samuel and Joshua Fisher.

Fashion

While the young Queen Elizabeth II was the fashion role model for most New Zealand women of the 1950s, Gus Fisher instead looked to Paris for influence. He travelled there every year to see first-hand the new designs and fabrics and to experience the mood and feel of the fashion trends. For his own fashion label, El Jay, he interpreted French Couture and created his own version of uncluttered European elegance making it available to women here. This commitment to experiencing the real thing led to not just a keen awareness of the latest trends but also to the establishment of relationships with the Paris couturiers which in turn led to El Jay becoming the New Zealand licensee for Christian Dior, giving it the exclusive rights to manufacture and sell Christian Dior originals and Christian Dior prêt-à-porter in the New Zealand market. The quality of the production from the house of El Jay is legendary and Fisher never lost the Dior license becoming the longest license holder in the world. He was the New Zealand agent for Dior from 1954 until El Jay closed its doors in 1988. For 50 years, El Jay was sold in the top department stores and fashion boutiques including his own flagship stores the French Shop in Remuera and the El Jay boutique in the 246 building, a 1960s retail development on Queen St in Auckland. When El Jay introduced their Ultra Suede line in the late 1970s, the ground floor store in 246 was redeveloped for this new range.
File:Nzfm-ultrasuede-el-jay.jpg|alt=Ultra Suede jerkin and skirt.|thumb|An by El Jay, circa 1980. Photo by New Zealand Fashion Museum.
The contribution of Gus Fisher and his El Jay label was celebrated in 2010 by the "Looking Terrific – the Story of El Jay" pop up exhibition of the New Zealand Fashion Museum at the Gus Fisher Gallery. Curated by Doris de Pont, the exhibition showcased over 50 vintage garments by El Jay.
In 2013, more than 50 original Christian Dior 'look-book' catalogues dating back to the 1950s, collected by Gus Fisher, were donated by Fisher's son, Michael, to the Dior archive in Paris, where they would be kept in climate controlled conditions. El Jay's main office in Kingston Street, Auckland has remained unused since 1988 and still held much of the firm's remaining stock at the time of Gus Fisher's death in 2010.

Honours and awards

2001 Established the Gus Fisher Gallery at The University of Auckland to encourage debate on contemporary visual arts and culture and foster creative and academic research in visual arts.
Gus Fisher has also been involved in the establishment of the Kenneth Myers Centre and the School of Creative and Performing Arts and The University of Auckland.
2004 Gus Fisher Postdoctoral Fellowship to specialise in the research of Neurogenerative diseases and a cure for Parkinson's disease. This was the first fellowship related to Parkinson's research offered in New Zealand.
Gus Fisher has made significant donations to a number of organisations, including the Auckland War Memorial Museum and community drug education and rehabilitation programmes.
Gus Fisher is a founding donor of the Hood Fund, which enables leading New Zealand academics to share their research overseas.
Further donations went to the Auckland Museum Redevelopment Programme, the Auckland City Art Gallery, the McCahon House Trust, the Auckland Festival, and The University of Auckland's Medical School.