Royal Ascot accessories, beyond the hat

Royal Ascot accessories, beyond the hat: six outfit combinations using headwear, bags, scarves, jewellery and neckwear, with required pieces distinguished from personal choices.

A brim changes the space around a face. It can cast a sharp shadow across a cheek or extend the shoulder's line into the air, giving a simple dress an entirely different outline. Ascot makes room for that sort of experiment, provided the headwear answers the code for the enclosure.

The smaller objects deserve a similarly deliberate choice. A necklace, scarf and earrings can each be interesting without all belonging beside the same hat. Start with the thing you most want to wear, then look at the spaces it leaves available.

Which accessories are required?

Under Royal's adult women's code, a hat is required or a headpiece with a solid base at least ten centimetres in diameter. Queen Anne and Village also accept fascinators. Windsor encourages headwear but has no formal requirement for it.

Royal's men's code requires a black or grey top hat and a necktie with morning dress. Queen Anne requires a necktie with its suit; Village permits a necktie, bow tie or cravat with the prescribed jacket and trousers. A scarf does not replace a required necktie. Read the full dress code before treating any of those pieces as optional.

Ascot allows guests to follow in full the code they feel most comfortable with. Where a medical requirement affects an accessory, contact the access team before the visit rather than trying to tolerate an unsuitable fit.

For her: three ways to finish the outfit

Let the hat carry the shape

A pale sculptural hat can give a deep-blue sleeved dress its principal curve. Keep the dress opaque and below the knee for a useful formal starting point, then add dark-red low heels and a compact blue or brown bag. The red creates a warmer point below the broad blue; it need not reappear in every other object.

Try the hat with the intended hair and earrings, including the side where its decoration sits closest to the face. Small earrings may leave a strong brim clearer. Turn your head with the coat on and lift the collar to find any collision before the afternoon supplies a reason to do so.

For a Royal headpiece, measure the solid base rather than its outermost flourish. Check the fastening as well as the shape. A bag with a usable strap leaves a hand available for a programme or layer; choose enough capacity for your actual necessities before admiring how small it looks.

Give a silk scarf one clear purpose

A cream trouser suit and blue blouse can give a printed square a pale surround and a darker centre. Fold the scarf into a loose neck arrangement and look for the red or green that remains visible. A colour occupying a small corner of the opened drawing can become its most prominent feature once tied.

Keep the suit matching in colour and material, the blouse compliant with the enclosure, and the required headwear in place. The scarf should sit comfortably within that arrangement. It cannot correct a neckline or perform the work of a hat, and it need not reproduce the headwear's shade.

If the neck already feels full, try a small tie at the bag handle. Keep it away from rough fittings, leave the closure usable and prevent the ends from trailing. The scarf is worth including when you like the particular fragment of drawing it reveals; an empty space does not require filling.

Jewellery with a printed dress

A print can contain several scales at once: a large flower or figure, a finer background and the small shapes made where the cloth folds. Begin with modest earrings, one bracelet and plain headwear appropriate to the enclosure. Dark-leather shoes and a compact bag give that changing surface a definite boundary.

Look at the jewellery while moving. A bracelet may disappear beneath a sleeve or catch at its edge; earrings can touch a low brim. If the dress has a shaped collar, try leaving the neck bare so its line remains legible.

There is room for an inherited or favourite object even when it does not repeat the print's colours. Give it a place where it can be seen and check its clasp. Its reason for being there may be personal, which is a better basis for choosing than a rule that every shade must match.

For him: three accessory decisions

The top hat and the fit beneath it

Try the required black or grey top hat in person where possible. It should remain secure when you move without producing a pressure that becomes increasingly difficult to ignore. A printed size is a starting point for the fitting, particularly with an unfamiliar hired hat.

Royal's complete morning-dress outfit includes a waistcoat, collared shirt, necktie, black dress shoes and ankle-covering socks. Keep the top hat uncustomised; coloured ribbons and added decoration are excluded. The rules also specify places where it may be removed, including restaurants and private boxes.

Consider the collar, tie and hat together. If the collar is uncomfortable fastened, a different knot will not necessarily solve the underlying fit. Give the shirt the same preparation time as the more conspicuous formal pieces.

A tie with a matching suit

A burgundy patterned necktie can give a navy suit and pale-blue shirt a concentrated area of warmth. Dark green works differently against grey, producing a cooler relationship. Queen Anne requires a necktie, so select one you enjoy looking at within the actual shirt opening.

A white pocket square may provide enough further detail. If choosing a patterned one, compare its scale with the tie rather than buying an identical set automatically. A narrow exposed fold can relate two colours more subtly than a pocket filled with the whole design.

Fasten the collar and tie the knot to a size that suits its opening. Check the tie's length against the trouser waist, then put the jacket on. The arrangement needs to work as worn, including the small portion visible when the jacket is closed.

A cravat for Village, where it is permitted

A brown blazer, cream trousers and blue shirt can take a printed cravat, with leather shoes and ankle-covering socks. Village permits the cravat alongside the necktie and bow tie. Keep the print proportionate to the shirt opening and allow enough room at the neck for it to settle comfortably.

That permission does not extend to replacing the necktie in Royal or Queen Anne. A cravat's association with formal dressing does not make it acceptable under every formal code. Choose it because you like the object and have a booking that allows it.

In Windsor, a scarf can accompany an open collar as an optional choice. Try the folded thickness in the forecast you expect; a generous square may introduce more cloth at the neck than the outfit needs.

Sunglasses, bags and useful omissions

Put sunglasses on with the headwear and earrings. Their arms share a small amount of space with hat fittings, and a comfortable pair alone can become less comfortable in company. Keep a case available when the glasses come off, especially if keys occupy the same bag.

Choose the bag around tickets, phone, payment, glasses, medication and other personal requirements. Close it with those things inside and test its weight on the shoulder. Check current entry and storage arrangements before adding a separate hatbox, spare shoes or a bulky layer.

For the final trial, look first at the accessory that made you want to wear the outfit. Can you still see its curve, colour or drawing clearly? Remove or reposition whatever obscures it, then check the fastenings. A remarkable hat deserves a secure comb as much as a sympathetic dress.

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