A friend of mine had a date last week (no, this isn’t where I say it was a friend when it was actually me) and despite every factor that made it one of those horribly awkward first dates, namely them simulteneously realizing that he had dated her best friend’s sister during college, she’s going out with him again. Seems that first impressions really do stick — although her being a stylist and him being a tad obsessed with clothes probably helped — and I kid you not, she wouldn’t stop talking about his tie. “You should have seen it,” she gushed, “it had all of these little beetles crawling up it.” Turns out they weren’t actual beetles, but beetles printed on silk by the guys at Sovereign Beck, a Brooklyn-based design outfit. Both RISD graduates, Ryan Sovereign and William Beck started their line of neckware in 2005, which blends classic prints and themes with modern irreverence and defiance, which is more than evident in the episode of Cool Hunting Video they did earlier last month. Go pick up one up for yourself…who knows, it may be the saving grace on your next painfully uncomfortable date.