Shoes

The whole shoes should be polished and shiny - use normal polish brushes on the main body of the shoe.

For the toecaps, you will need a clean duster, a cup of warm water and some cotton wool, plus the polish.

Wrap one finger in the duster and drag it 3-4 times across the polish. Use the duster to rub the polish all over the toecap. Dab some of the warm water onto the toecap and then start to rub the polish into the toecap, using very small circular motions. Keep rubbing nd adding more water until the polish begins to go shiny.

Then, dip the cotton wool in the warm water and squeeze out. Use this to buff up the toecap using large circular motions. This should produce a brilliant shine after a few applications.

Trousers

The trousers should be ironed as they were drawn from the packet - no creases should be ironed in where there were none before.

For the main creases in each leg both front and back, they should be pressed all the way to the belt loops. To get a sharp crease, fold the trousers and lay down on an ironing board so the creases are on the edges of the trousers.

Wet and then wring out a tea towel and place along the crease. With a hot iron, press down hard onto the crease.The tea towel will stop the trousers burning.

Before doing this step, should you want a sharper crease, you can turn the trousers inside out and put a layer of ordinary soap onto the inside of the crease and then iron as above. The soap will melt and then dry, holding the crease in shape. And contrary to popular belief, it does not froth if you get rained on!

Shirts

Shirts are the easiest to iron - simply press the main body of the shirt and then iron the crease that runs down the centre of each sleeve.

The shirt collar should  NOT be ironed down as there were no creases there in the first place.

Berets

Berets should be shaped to the individual’s head. To do this, alternately immerse the beret in hot and cold water avoiding wetting the leather band. Wring out the beret and place on the head.

Pull the excess material (not the inside lining- important!) across the head to the right. Carefully remove from the head and use a clothes peg to fasten the excess material in place. Leave to dry naturally.

Ties

The animation below shows how a tie should be tied when worn with a light blue shirt.