PHOTO BY HOLLY POE DURBIN "Ophelia Rising" Exhibit alluring appearance. And these items of clothing are still powerfully alluring. emphasizing the undulating female curves contemporary society has forgotten. Illustrations on the wall explain the complexities of underpinnings in past eras, encapsulating the shifting standards of beauty from the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries. Stiff corsets and petticoats which once "improved" the mature nineteenth-century female shape take on a new role in the twentieth century when beauty is redefined as a youthful slim figure. One quote included in the exhibition from a 1949 issue of the Women's Home Companion reminds us that to be modern is to be youthful "It's an outmoded idea that women must submit to the verdict of the years. Young, fresh figure charm can be safeguarded year after year by wearing the right Formfit all-in-one foundation." This quotation placed next to a heavily constructed long-line foundation sharply reminds us that women have traded one set of constructed tyrannies for another. The lingerie is placed around the room to eliminate a prescribed path through the installation itself. This seemingly random placement discourages the idea this is a linear exhibition of historical fashions. Eventually patrons must decide to duck under the line of letters bisecting the room to view other items, or they must decide to leave the room and re-enter by another door. Parting the letters to walk through them creates associations with passing through some one else's laundry hung to dry on the line-our most private items, yet hung in public for all to see. We are passing literally and metaphorically through others' intimacies. The artists used period research and inspirations, yet each garment is a contemporary construction using a mixture of vintage and current materials. Fabric choices reinforce the artistic element of each piece, just as in theatrical design. Two silk satin corsets contrast the heavy structure of boning and busk hardware with delicate decoration. A blue satin corset in the style of 1890 sports tiny hand sewn ribbon flowers, and an olive corset in 1880s style is constructed of hand-embroidered India silk. The corsetry is a stunning example of the marriage of engineering and textile art; a jigsaw puzzle of tiny pieces constructed to force a form into a prescribed shape. Three petticoat understructures also illustrate the engineering required to construct skirts longer and wider than the human form. An ecru tournure petticoat circa 1880 looks like an industrial or medical device with long suspender straps connecting waistband to hem. The bustle back is a mass of unTHEATRE F A L L 2006 DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY 37