If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well – and there are few things as worthwhile as taking the time to properly iron your shirt. When it comes to dressing with style, some rules are made to be broken. Others, not so much. And a crumpled, poorly ironed shirt is up there with the most heinous of sartorial sins.

There was a time, not too long ago, when the only men expected to know how to iron a shirt were soldiers. In his endlessly quotable and deliciously anachronistic style guide of 1964, The ABC Of Men’s Fashion, Sir Hardy Amies offers the following advice on the topic of ironing: “If you haven’t been in the services, then get a wife and train her.” It goes without saying that anyone who still clings on to such opinions needs dragging, forcibly, into the 21st century. Every modern man should have this skill at his disposal.

That’s why we’ve asked Mr Stephen Haughton, founder of Burford Valet Service, to provide us with an expert’s guide. With more than 20 years’ experience in keeping his clients’ clothes – and, by extension, his clients themselves – looking their very best, Mr Haughton is a man whose opinion you can trust.

This video guide has been designed with the beginner in mind. As such, it assumes no prior knowledge, but we hope that even an old hand might discover something new. Did you know, for instance, that there’s a specific direction in which you should iron your collar? Watch the video, above, to find out how to do it and why.