Doris de Pont

Doris de Pont (born 1954) is a New Zealand fashion designer and director of the New Zealand Fashion Museum.

Early life and education

Doris de Pont was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1954. Her parents emigrated to New Zealand around 1952 from the Netherlands. Her maternal grandfather was a tailor and owned the family clothing business: established in 1840. Her father's family made football boots and shoes. Both family businesses contributed to the textile industry in Tilburg. de Pont started sewing at a young age and continued to sew while studying for a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology and political studies at the University of Auckland and completed her teacher training in the early-1970s. During this time she found work at the Rudolf Steiner School in The Hague, and also designed and made clothing as part of a women's fashion collective. The shop opened in June 1985 and sold her designs under the label 'Design: Doris de Pont'. In 2002 de Pont and Foote parted ways and the DNA label became 'Doris de Pont'.

During the 1990s, de Pont was the designer of the uniforms of crews of Niue's airline, Niue Airline

Items by de Pont are held in the collections of the Auckland War Memorial Museum, Te Papa and the National Gallery of Victoria.

In 2019 de Pont was awarded a Museum Medal as a Companion of Auckland War Memorial Museum in recognition of her achievements to the public service of Auckland Museum