Have your breeches fit you.  The coat is less important, in fact, any odd coat will do.  Your legs are the cynosure of attention in riding.

Most men in the country wear knickerbockers with golf stockings, with a sack or a belted or a semi-belted coat, and in any variety of homespuns or tweeds or rough worsted materials.  Or they wear long trousered flannels.  Coats are of the polo or ulster variety.  For golf or tennis many men wear sweater coats.  Shirts are of cheviot or silk or flannel, all with soft collars attached and to match.

The main thing is to dress appropriately.  If you are going to play golf, wear golf clothes; if tennis, wear flannels.  Do not wear a yachting cap ashore unless you are living on board a yacht.

White woolen socks are correct with white buckskin shoes in the country, but not in town.

If some semi-formal occasion comes up, such as a country tea, the time-worn conservative blue coat with white flannel trousers is perennially good.

=OTHER HINTS=

The well-dressed man is always a paradox.  He must look as though he gave his clothes no thought and as though literally they grew on him like a dog’s fur, and yet he must be perfectly groomed.  He must be close-shaved and have his hair cut and his nails in good order (not too polished).  His linen must always be immaculate, his clothes “in press,” his shoes perfectly “done.”  His brown shoes must shine like old mahogany, and his white buckskin must be whitened and polished like a prize bull terrier at a bench show.  Ties and socks and handkerchief may go together, but too perfect a match betrays an effort for “effect” which is always bad.

The well-dressed man never wears the same suit or the same pair of shoes two days running.  He may have only two suits, but he wears them alternately; if he has four suits he should wear each every fourth day.  The longer time they have “to recover” their shape, the better.

=WHAT TO WEAR ON VARIOUS OCCASIONS=

The appropriate clothes for various occasions are given below.  If ever in doubt what to wear, the best rule is to err on the side of informality.  Thus, if you are not sure whether to put on your dress suit or your Tuxedo, wear the latter.

=FULL DRESS=

1.  At the opera. 2.  At an evening wedding. 3.  At a dinner to which the invitations are worded in the third person. 4.  At a ball, or formal evening entertainment. 5.  At certain State functions on the Continent of Europe in broad daylight.

=TUXEDO=

1.  At the theater. 2.  At most dinners. 3.  At informal parties. 4.  Dining at home. 5.  Dining in a restaurant.

=A CUTAWAY OR FROCK COAT WITH STRIPED TROUSERS=

1.  At a noon or afternoon wedding. 2.  On Sunday for church (in the city). 3.  At any formal daytime function. 4.  In England to business. 5.  As usher at a wedding. 6.  As pall-bearer.

=BUSINESS SUITS=