British men seem to have a massive genetic blind spot when it comes to summer clothing – as soon as the UV rays reach our shores, they emerge in strange straw hats, sandals with socks and hideously bright and vulgar shirts.

A World Cup makes the situation even worse, as it adds the tendency to wear V-necked tops in neon-bright shades with huge square numbers printed on them.

There are a few tricks men can use to ensure that they look good, rather than gaudy, in the sunshine:

1.    Stick to wearing just three colours. If your polo-shirt or Hawaiian shirt contains three colours, you should make sure everything else you wear is in one of those three. Bright colours look fantastic – but only if you limit them: throwing loads of bright colours together is just eye-watering, not eye-pleasing.
2.    When wearing a V-neck, think about getting a chest wax first. Seriously.
3.    Chose a base colour like white, blue or beige and stick to it. Buy shorts, socks, trainers, sun-hats and summer jackets in that one colour – this ensures that about 70% of your summer wardrobe is instantly well coordinated.
4.    Look at clothing online and when buying a T-shirt, make sure you have a pair of trousers or shorts that are similar to the ones the model is wearing: photographers have a pretty good idea what looks good and will put models in classic styling. If you wear something pretty close to what the model is wearing, you’ll look pretty good.