Souvenir Wednesday - A Flight of Fancy from Harajuku
Neck-ties are one of those odd little cultural markers, aren’t they? In some places, they’ve basically gone extinct. My friend N is from Australia, where - if I understand correctly - ties have been quietly relegated to weddings, courtrooms, and maybe school uniforms. I still remember her sighing before moving back home from Japan, saying, “It’s not just the humidity - I feel like I’m suffocating seeing all the suits. Every man at my office looks like he walked out of 1962. We only wear neck-ties for funerals.”
It has been a while ago since she left Japan, but honestly? She wasn’t wrong. There are still plenty of offices here where everyone’s dressed like they’re about to make a pitch on Mad Men, minus the whisk(e)y and walnut desks. Ties and heels like it’s the law.
And yet - maybe because of that very stiffness - I’ve come to enjoy spotting ties that don’t take themselves so seriously. Which is how I ended up smiling at a tie shaped like a runway. Not just runway-inspired: a literal runway, complete with a miniature air plane clip, as if it’s about to take off from your chest. The brand is Giraffe ジラフ, and somehow, they’ve pulled off elegant and ridiculous in one go. It made me think of my friend T. T once told me he had considered becoming a CA. He just loved (and still loves) flying that much. He didn’t end up doing it (PhD in law instead), but he still flies way more than I do. That silly, beautiful runway tie felt like a postcard from a parallel universe: T in polished shoes, doing the seatbelt demonstration.
Then I looked at the price tag.
Let’s just say it went from “I should surprise him!” to “…maybe for his 50th birthday.” But it stuck in my brain anyway, like all good almost-presents do.
Credit: Giraffe
Giraffe makes a whole range of these tiny statement pieces. Some ties are reversible, with different patterns on each side - like a mood ring, but less 90s. They’ve got bow-ties that are half-check, half-dot.
Credit: Giraffe
They're not cheap at all (I don’t own a single tie so I wouldn’t really know - but this is out of my casual present range): most ties fall somewhere between 15,000 and 19,800 yen (that’s 100-133 USD; 92-123 EUR; 78-100 GBP). But they’re made in Japan, and they feel personal in a way most accessories don’t. Not mass-produced. More like “I saw this and thought of you. Happy 20th Wedding Anniversary” or “You did so well writing an 800 pages long PhD thesis on airport architecture”
I didn’t buy that runway tie in the end. But I haven’t stopped thinking about it either.
Credit: Giraffe
Where to Find the Giraffe brick and mortar shop:
Chalet Harajuku, 2F, 2-34-20 Jingūmae, Shibuya-ku
Open 12:00 to 19:00 on Fridays, weekends, and national holidays (though always check their website or on Instagram - openings can apparently be a bit spontaneous).
Note: Yes, the address is Shibuya-ku, but Harajuku or Jingumae are the nearest stations unless you enjoy a long, puzzled stroll. Don’t try to go there from Shibuya-Station.
Love this.