Royal Ascot has a dress code, which at least removes one decision. Most other race meetings in Britain do not, which means the whole thing falls on you. That is not a problem. You are outside, in the English countryside, with nowhere particular to be until the last race. Very few occasions ask for better dressing, and fewer still make it this easy to get right.

Enter our prize draw to win a tie and pocket square of your choice plus a personal consultation with Chris Modoo

Shop the Video

---

The occasion

Why Royal Ascot and the Summer Races Reward the Man Who Has Thought About It

There are very few occasions in British life where getting dressed involves genuine freedom. Weddings have their conventions. Offices have their rules. The summer races, for the most part, have neither. Royal Ascot is the obvious exception: the Royal Enclosure requires morning dress, and there is a certain pleasure in that clarity. But the Village Enclosure at Ascot, Glorious Goodwood, Epsom on Derby Day, Newmarket in July: at these meetings the unwritten rules are the only rules, enforced not by stewards but by the eyes of everyone around you.

The setting is what guides everything. You are at a country venue, outdoors for most of the day, in English summer weather which will do what it likes regardless of your plans. The cloth and the cut that work in a city office are not the cloth and the cut that belong here. Texture, weight, natural fibre, warm tone: these are the building blocks of a good race day outfit, and they are considerably more interesting to wear than a navy business suit.

---

The Foundation

Why an Odd Jacket and Trousers Beats a Suit at Royal Ascot and Goodwood

The case for an odd jacket and trousers over a fixed suit is simple. A suit speaks to the city. It belongs in an office, a boardroom, a glass-and-steel building where the carpet is grey and the windows do not open. At a racecourse, particularly against the paddock and the summer landscape, it tends to look as though it has arrived from somewhere else and not had time to change.

An odd jacket does something the suit cannot: it allows texture and colour to have a conversation with each other. A linen jacket over a sharp wool trouser has a visual interest that comes directly from the contrast between the two cloths. It reads as considered in a way that two pieces of the same fabric worn together simply does not.

There is a practical argument too. An odd jacket layers. Worn over a waistcoat with a tie, it delivers as much formality as the occasion could ask for. Worn alone over an open collar, it sits perfectly well. Taken off in the afternoon sun, it allows the outfit beneath to degrade gracefully rather than abruptly. A suit, once the jacket comes off, becomes a pair of suit trousers and a shirt, which has the air of a long meeting rather than a good afternoon.

For trousers, reach for cloth that holds a shape. A quality pure wool in mid-grey or stone keeps a clean crease across a day of walking and standing. Paired with a softer linen or herringbone jacket above, the combination reads as deliberate without looking overdressed.

---

The Summer Meeting

What to Wear to Royal Ascot and Goodwood: The Case for Linen

For Goodwood, the Epsom Festival, Ascot in June, linen is the natural answer. It breathes. It moves well. It creases over the course of a day, and this is not a problem but a quality: linen at the end of an afternoon looks like a man who has been having a good time. The crumple has to be earned, and at the races it earns itself quickly enough.

A herringbone linen in tobacco or biscuit gives you visual interest without any effort. Pair it with a plain or lightly striped shirt, well-pressed grey or stone trousers, and the foundation is already stronger than most of what you will see at the course. The jacket wants minimal structure: enough to hold its shape, not so much that it fights you after several hours in the paddock. The pockets should be functional. The cut should be easy across the shoulders.

The warm end of the linen palette sits naturally against the summer landscape, which is precisely why it has been worn at country race meetings for the better part of a century. Tobacco, sand, biscuit, pale herringbone: these are colours that belong outdoors. They pair happily with everything you already own for blue and grey jackets, and they tend to improve rather than age over the course of a long afternoon.

---

The Extra Layer

The Odd Waistcoat: The Single Easiest Way to Dress Up a Race Day Outfit

An odd waistcoat is one of the more useful items in a man's wardrobe, and race day is where it earns its keep most visibly. Worn over a shirt and tie, it adds a degree of formality that requires nothing else to justify it. It reads as deliberate effort without tipping into overdressing. It brings the colours of the outfit together in a way that a tie and jacket alone do not quite manage.

More practically, it is removable. When the afternoon warms up, or the walking begins to tell, it comes off and the outfit beneath it is still perfectly presentable. A jacket removed without a waistcoat makes you a man in shirtsleeves. A waistcoat removed makes you a man who has sensibly adjusted to the temperature. The difference is considerable.

An off-white or cream linen waistcoat sits naturally against warm-toned jackets: biscuit herringbone, tobacco linen, pale tweed. It introduces freshness without disturbing the palette. The tone of the waistcoat should sit in the same family as the jacket rather than matching it exactly. You are adding a note, not repeating one that is already there.

Once you have worn an odd waistcoat to the races, wearing a jacket and tie without one feels like leaving the house with something missing.

---

Finishing the Look

Which Tie to Wear to the Races: Why Texture Wins Every Time

The tie is where a race day outfit tends to go wrong. The instinct is often to reach for something festive: a bright woven silk, the sort of thing associated with weddings and garden parties. At a wedding it is fine. At the races it reads as not quite understanding the difference between the two occasions.

The better move is texture. A knitted wool-cashmere tie in bottle green, midnight blue, or burgundy pairs naturally with the textured cloths the races call for. Linen and knit talk to each other in a way that linen and printed silk do not, because both are textured cloths in conversation with each other rather than competing. A shantung stripe works on the same principle: not silk competing with linen, but silk with enough body and surface interest to hold its own alongside it. A blue, cream and ecru stripe in shantung is the kind of tie that sits beautifully against a warm linen jacket without trying too hard.

The colour of the tie should tone into the outfit rather than lead it. Bottle green against tobacco linen. Midnight blue against biscuit herringbone. A warm stripe against pale grey flannel. The tie at the races is the last piece of the picture. It should not behave like the first.

---

The Pocket Square

How to Choose a Pocket Square for Royal Ascot and the Summer Races

The pocket square follows the same logic as the tie. The occasion does not call for the most dramatic silk in the drawer. It calls for something that belongs in the picture: considered in colour, proportionate to everything around it, and made well enough to justify the position it occupies.

Madder silk is a natural choice here. Its matte chalk finish sits well against linen and tweed in a way that a glossier silk does not. The colour palette in madder silk pocket squares maps directly onto the races: racing green and bronze, burnt orange and navy, warm ochre. These are not colours invented for a brief. They are simply the colours that belong to the landscape and the cloth at the same time.

A white linen pocket square in a flat or single-point fold is the other reliable option. It works with everything, reads as appropriate at any meeting from Kempton to the Royal Enclosure, and does not require any further thought once it is in the pocket. There is something to be said for that.

For a more specific choice, the Jockey Club collection is worth knowing about. The Sceptre at Newmarket depicts the champion filly who won the race in 1901 and again in 1902 in record time. The Sandown Park Lawn, 1884 shows the historic course in its Victorian prime. Both are made to the same standard as the rest of the collection and happen, in this case, to make the subject matter entirely appropriate to the occasion.

---

The Winter Meeting

What to Wear to Cheltenham Festival and Autumn Race Meetings

The winter meeting is a different proposition entirely. Where Ascot in June asks for lightness, Cheltenham in March asks for weight, warmth, and cloth that improves in cold and grey rather than wilting in it. This is the natural home of English tweed.

A well-cut tweed or herringbone wool jacket in the brown and biscuit range sits naturally against a winter landscape in a way that a summer linen simply does not. It keeps you warm without announcing effort. It suits the setting without requiring explanation. Pair it with a thick wool tie, a warm madder silk pocket square, and good leather shoes in brown grain or suede, and the outfit has understood where it is going.

An overcoat earns its place more at Cheltenham than almost anywhere else. A camel or tobacco wool overcoat worn over a tweed jacket and grey flannel trousers contrasts rather than coordinates: the outfit reads as deliberately layered rather than accidentally uniform. The colour shows off construction details that can disappear against a dark navy or charcoal. If you are looking for one, browse the overcoats collection before the autumn fixtures start.

---

Explore the Collection

Ties and Pocket Squares for the Races

---

Frequently Asked Questions

What to Wear to the Races: Your Questions Answered

---

To view the full collection click on the button below.