What is so sexy about a tie? Well I best explain this one in a story about a dream to sell neckties which I had become very fond of. Not regular ties so much but unique neckties illustrating movie stars, Spiderman, or ties with so much color and such wild designs that not every man could wear. The problem was these ties were not easy to find so hence I started my search for them and the rest is now history.
I owned a very special necktie kiosk called Too Sexie Ties ( Too Sexy Ties ) in the Irvine Spectrum Center for almost four year until 2001. That mall was very popular in part because it was located right where the 5 and 405 freeways merge at the famous El Toro Y. And because it was an entertainment center complete with at least an assortment of specialty retailer like Oakley, Quick Silver, a 21 screen Edwards movie theater with stadium seating, a wide screen IMax, rock and roll bars, a Wolfgang Pucks, P.F. Chang’s, Barnes and Nobel’s, Block Buster, Cold Stone Ice Cream, Miss Fields Cookies, three coffee houses not to mention the world famous Too Sexie Tie cart located in front of the Cuban Cigar Factory and the Improv Comedy House.
Yes, it was World famous because we had every specialty tie including Ralph Marlin, Looney Tunes, Disney, Tabasco, Endangered Species, Electric Ties, and Rush Limbaugh. Additionally we had Martin Wong, J. Blades, Geoffrey Beene and other fashion neckties too.
Everyone knew about Too Sexy Ties because the foot traffic that mall had was beyond belief. I first started selling ties out of the trunk of a 1966 Lincoln Continental to car salesmen in Los Angeles and Orange County so I had a great following long before I opened up in Dec 1997.
I would still be there today working 24/7, well actually from 10 am until at least midnight everyday if not for the success of my first Internet necktie store Too Sexy Ties - tiestiesneckties.com.
I purposely misspelled sexy to get the attention of people. Ties has ie so Sexy was Sexie. Every day almost I would be challenged on this cute way of spelling and every day I had to explain myself. This was easy for me. However, not because I would explain the miss-spelling as a marketing ploy - being careful to not offend anyone, but because I made it simple and fun. I would explain what was true, the truth is always easy to explain as it is a logical way to perceive and digest anything. Holding up a Marilyn Monroe tie and singing I’m too sexy for my tie, too sexie for my tie, too sexie, too sexie... and that was it. Everyone laughed and often I had a sale and a customer.
I had a lot fun there at the Spectrum but it was tiring and I just ran out of speed I guess. After almost 4 years it seemed more sensible to take the show on the road - the Internet. And to this day I am still defending the sex appeal of ties.