Waxing Kardashian

At Madame Tussauds the proletariat engage with actual-size wax celebrities. The original Madame Tussauds is in London. Its Las Vegas outpost, established in 1999, was the first to open in the United States. Tussaud boasts of being an interactive museum, and rightly so because it heightens the fun.

Walking through rooms of wax people is eerie. The famous figures are rendered with a lifelike yet unsettling presence. Especially in one’s peripheral vision. More than once, what feels like another visitor is an inanimate celeb- sometimes with outstretched arms inviting interaction. The wax figures are arranged all throughout the museum, with the majority hanging out at ground level amongst the visitors, all mingling together at the world’s weirdest party. But, don’t get too cozy- making eye contact with their glistening orbs is spooky. It’s best to look away.

Traveling from room to room, the experience gains in creepiness. Still, it’s fun to pose for goofball selfies with the likes of Elvis and Zach Galifianakis and Andy Warhol. Also fun is the ability to ignore and glide past irritating celebrities like Madonna and Katy Perry. Further fun is oddly found in how diminutive most of them are. Celebrity is a strange small space to occupy, and further, to observe.

When the Las Vegas Tussauds opened in 1999, Khloe Kardashian was 15 years old. In 2018 it unveiled its wax Khloe Kardashian figure. It’s entirely possible the wax Khloe looks more lifelike than the real Khloe, 34, who has permanently altered her appearance. The Kardashians have built an empire on celebrity and image and cosmetic surgery. Perhaps Khloe is simply keeping up.

Wondering if any contingencies are in place in the event precast celebrities undergo major plastic surgery. Would Tussauds replace an updated head or derriere? Or are these wax stars frozen in time to forever melt our hearts and eternally interact with our star-struck minds? And selfies. And wallets.