A while back, we were having a philosophical conversation about the diminishing future of brands in a world of perfect information, and we started debating about the world's most powerful designer label. Gucci? Prada? Armani? We decided the answer was Sarah Lawrence College. It charges $200,000-plus for an oversized designer label — aka a diploma — that doesn't even come attached to an article of clothing.

It got us thinking: What if we turned Magnificent Bastard into an accredited institution of higher learning, and charged, say, $100,000 for a diploma — but attached it to a really nice coat?

It's a big undertaking. But as a first step, we decided to create our institution's official university tie. As you can see, the stripes run heart to sword, in a nod to our Anglophilia. The red stripe signifies passion. The blue stripe signifies reason. The stripes are wide, because we will encourage our students to cultivate both passion and reason in generous quantities. The tie's fabric, raw silk, comes from a mill in England, and it is simultaneously rough-hewn and refined. (We will develop an upper-level symposium about this paradox eventually.)

The tie's interlining and keeper depicts our Dean. She's got a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Stanford, a Ph.D. in Classics from Harvard, a uniquely free spirit, and, yes, we're lucky to have her helming this enterprise.

Okay, that's it for now. We hope you took notes, because there will be a quiz on Thursday.

Details

• Fabric: 100% silk; England
• Interlining: 100% wool; Italy
• Keeper: Dean, MB University
• Width: Exactly 3 ⅛" at its widest point
• Length: Roughly 59"
• Hand-stitched throughout, including label & loop
• Made in USA