You should choose your accessories to create a mood too. In fact, looking good in clothes is not just wearing a dress but creating it. Model girls know how to do just this. Murph, our model girl, added a secret beauty spot of her own for the dandy waistcoat ― not because anyone could see it but it made her feel more Regency and dashing.

There are a few don'ts too: Don't wear so many added bits that they lose their significance―in fact don't wear many added bits, full stop. Build up a collection of scarves, gloves and jewellery. The chain stores are good hunting grounds, and keep them as immaculate and folded as your dresses. The next step is for you to try for yourself. Experiment; permutate; find the right combination and what goes with what. Like we said, it's not what you wear but the way that you wear it. Have we proved our point?

TAKE A pair of trousers in bonded crepe with a high buttoned waistband, Simon Massey, 6 gns. And a marigold sweater, 49s. 11d., John Craig. And a red stretchy battle-dress top by Valstar, £2 19s 11d. ADD a squashy beret. Everybody knows that a beret completes an outfit. In marigold by Quant, 12s. 6d. Watch and snakeskin strap, made by Old England and priced at £5 9s. 6d. ADD a pair of shiny boots by good old Mary Quant―they're full of important looking zips for you to play with, price 76s 11d. ADD to the same trousers, a crisp white lawn blouse, 59s. 11d., and a brocade waistcoat in hundreds of colours, priced at £3 9s. Both available from Neatawear.

TAKE A navy dress in fine cotton frilled in black lace down the front and round the cuff―and add hardly anything. Dress by Lee Cecil, 6gns. JUST ADD A pair of super shoes like these (above) in blue patent with little enamel flowers on the front. By Gaby, £5 9s. 6d. And add a pair of good looking pale stockings in Mirrasheen by Sunarama, priced at 8s. 6d. Then add a beautiful ring like the one shown (below). It comes from Vendome, cost 3½ gns. 

There is no need to add anything more―just think how dreadful the effect would be if you added a pair of long dangly earrings and/or a feather boa. It's a great temptation to dress up for a big night out and end up looking like you've only missed off the kitchen sink! So make sure you're not overdoing the accessory bit. You can work wonders on that ❝little black dress❞ by dressing it up with a pair of really stunning shoes or one dramatic piece of jewellery. (Both cheaper than a new dress). 

A navy dress in fine cotton frilled in black lace down the front and round the cuff, by Lee Cecil, 6gns. Blue patent shoes, with enamel flowers on the front, by Gaby, £5 9s. 6d.

You can make a cheap dress look expensive with a really good accessory added. It seems to us that there are two schools of thought on dressing; one is to buy cheap clothes and more expensive accessories. The other is to oomph up classic clothes with some fun accessories. Decide which camp you're in and then don't ever swap! That's when disaster happens!

TAKE A cardigan dress in sludge green. We chose a John Craig one with short sleeves and a little handkerchief pocket. It cost 4½ gns. ADD a pure silk scarf in gold, pink and green tied in a different way. Make the scarf into a long thin roll, wrap over twice to make the knot. It's not the scarf but the way that you wear it. Scarf, Jacqmar, 69s. 11d. ADD an important looking watch. This one is named Half a Sixpence because it's threepenny-bit shaped! Has a shiny tortoise-shell strap. By Old England £5 9s. 6d. And a brown leather belt, by Otto Glanz, £1. ADD A chunky pair of brogues in green suede with green leather toe caps and a silver bar and just the right shade of tights, in pale green (it's the little things that are important). By Bear Brand, 12s. 11d. Shoes, Ravel, 59s. 11d. 

IMAGE CREDITS & LINKS

All content scanned and transcribed by Sweet Jane from Intro Magazine, January 1968. Model: Murph. Photographer uncredited. View some of my previous Mary Quant posts ➽ On The Quant Wavelength (1967). From Mary Quant, a completely new look! (1970). Mary Quant gives you the bare essentials (1966). And here, you'll find a pair of incredibly rare vintage Mary Quant 'Puddleduck' boots available at Dandy Fashions boutique. Discover more about the Old England watches featured in the post above. And also Faye Dunaway, the gun-toting Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde, who has done for the beret what Bardot did for the bikini (1967). And lastly, The Knack...and how to get it (1965).