Once I stepped into the gallery, my breath was taken away. Everything was so dazzling. The exhibits ranged from clothing to shoes to accessories from designers such as Chanel, Hermès, Valentino, and others. There was one particular exhibit I was drawn to entitled “Luxury.” It displayed the extravagant couture from the 18^th century to the present, showing the change in the fashion trends over time. The dresses back in the 18^th century were much bigger and not as slim and fitting as the dresses are now. One thing I saw that was simply amazing was the design of a robe from the 18^th century. It was made using expensive silk and lace, but that was not the beautiful part. On the robe there was a vivid flower print on it. It decorated the robe with the various colors of flowers without completely overwhelming it. Looking at all of these gowns made me really feel like I had traveled back in time.

            Here I also discovered that there was more behind the beauty of couture. Towards the beginning of 18^th century, important scholars thought that luxury was morally corrupting, but the definition of luxury has changed over time. Luxury began to be seen as a positive influence to the involvement in the wealth of nations. These works provide employment for many craftspeople and designers in the community. Garment making began to become more known as an international business. When these pieces of fashion were created, the creator put their thoughts and feeling into it. Like all other types of art, they designed it based on their own ideas and usually created the item to portray some sort of attitude. For example, there were dresses that were very minimal to keep with the modern opinion of less being better and there were other dresses that had rhinestones encrusted on the lining to display a sort of pretentious manner.

            At the end of my visit to this museum, my mindset about the boundaries of art had expanded to include fashion. Like painters and sculptors, fashion designers are too artists. Instead of using paint or stone, designers use jewelry and fabric as their mediums to create their masterpieces. The way some of these dresses were designed with each piece of embroidered work done specifically that way to match the entire outfit. Each item represented the time period and the current styles of that period. The marvelous clothing displayed in the gallery and truly showed how fashion could be translated into art.

There were a few exhibitions set up in the museum. The main exhibit was entitled “Where is Home? Chinese in the Americas.” It displayed a collection of artifacts such as ancient Chinese garments and old, worn Chinese laundry signs. There were also vintage photographs displayed to the public, but one specific photograph stood out the most. I saw this one picture of a Chinese-American baseball team in Los Angeles. In my entire life, I did not know that there was ever an all Chinese-American baseball team. It surprised me to see that such a team was actually formed, but it also disappointed me at the same time because this team never actually gained recognition in the world, let alone the country or state.

Other than just photos and objects in the presentation, there were also personal documents of Chinese Americans that showed the struggle they went through when emigrating here from China. The writings showed how these everyday objects such as an iron weren’t just everyday objects to these people. Attached to the iron were all the memories and was the link between their home in China and their new home in America. When they left these objects behind, they felt some sort of abandonment and feeling of leaving their traditions behind. Going along with the topic of “Where is Home?” there was an interactive portion of the exhibit where it asks visitors to write down their ideas of where home and post it on the walls. I thought that this part of the exhibit was the most interesting because it allowed the guests to submit their feelings as to what they think home should be. As I read the messages, I felt a little heart-warming to see sweet messages such as “Home is where the heart is.”

In the MoCA, there were also digital exhibits set up for visitors. One such video was called “Transitions: A Changing Profile of New York Chinatown” which talked about the history and background of New York Chinatown. It starts talking about the mere beginnings of the neighborhood and ends with how large this community has grown and is now filled with many immigrants from around the world. There was another digital display with audio and video interviews about how the people in Chinatown were affected by the September 11 attack. The people who were interviewed ranged from all parts of the large community such as a garment factory owner to a waiter to a lawyer. They each talked about how unemployment hit the Chinese people in Chinatown and they had to find other means of supporting their families. After visiting the museum part of the red building I had visited so many times in the past, I felt like I gained more knowledge and understanding of the culture I never really learned about. I had learned much about American history and culture in the classes I took in high school, but only in a few encounters did I come across information regarding Chinese culture, especially the history of Chinatown. I found it especially interesting that most of the information there was about New York Chinatown and not just about Chinese people in general because it made the exhibit more specific and I could relate more to the exhibits since it was about a place I was accustomed with. Although all the presentations were displayed in a small and modest space, the overall experience was more dynamic and informative to me than that room could have held.

The next room was the Presidential room where there were wax replicas of presidents and other famous thinkers and people such as George Bush and Napoleon. However the next room about the French Revolution, was the most frightening of all the rooms. The entire room was dark and there was an audio playing sound in the background of shrill screaming, glass breaking, and cannons firing. You could see around the room people’s heads on pikes and blood on the walls. The floor was also covered with cobblestone to add to the effect. I personally did not spend too much time dawdling in this room since it was quite chilling to me so I quickly moved into the next room.

In the next room, there was a completely different ambiance. The music didn’t contain screams and cannons, but instead had more of a funk and soul type of music. The wax figures in this room were mainly of people who were big in the later years such as the Beatles. Plastered on the wall were different advertisements, similar to a collage. The wavy structure of the area and designs contributed to the retro feeling of the room. There was a small station set up imitating the television show “American Idol.” Here you could pick what songs you wanted to belt out on the karaoke machine. I think that my experience spent at the wax museum was one to remember. It was amazing to see how artists can completely duplicate a person’s appearance. Every attribute of the real celebrity was perfected in the wax figure. A huge amount of effort and studying must have been put into every single wax figure in order to make sure that it is so flawless that one could almost not tell the difference between the figure and the person. If you haven’t visited Madame Tussaud’s yet, I would encourage you to do so, but once is enough. How many times can you visit the same wax figures and how many poses can you do with the wax figures before it becomes a little redundant? After this trip, I think I’m ready to hit up the Met or MoMA.