Everything You Need To Know About Cufflinks

Many younger men have grown up today without knowing anything about cufflinks, since they have been used to wearing shirts with buttoned cuffs since their schooldays and may never have given any consideration to anything else.

However, wearing a double cuff shirt with cufflinks can give you a very different, and certainly more distinctive appearance, and help to make you stand out before the crowd. Not only that, but you can have a lot of fun choosing cufflinks for different situations such as going to work, going to a dinner party, or just going for a walk in the countryside on a warm day without wearing a jacket.

Cufflinks come in a variety of designs, and we are not just talking about the appearance but the way that they work. One of the most common types of cufflink has the front face which is the part that has the design, a gemstone, or whatever, and is the part on the outside of the cuff that people will see. This is attached to the post which is the part that goes through the holes in the cuff, at the other end of which is the toggle which switches though 90° and holds the cufflink in place, and thus holds the cuffs together. The toggle is in the shape of a bullet and that is why these cufflinks are known as bullet back cufflinks.

Another style is the whaleback cufflink which has a single post instead of a double one and the toggle on this is shaped like the tail of a whale.

With both of these types of cufflinks you simply switch the toggle into a position parallel with the post, pop it through the holes and then switch it 90° to keep it in position.

Another type of cufflink is the button or stud cufflink. This has a face on each side and both are fixed to the post. An advantage is that you can have a design on both faces, but they are more difficult to put on because you have to tip the inside face through 90° and put it through the holes as you would a button.

Then there are ball return cufflinks which are similar, but which have a ball on the inside of the post which is usually curved. They fix in the same way as stud cufflinks.

There are also chain link cufflinks which have two equal faces held together by a chain. Push one face through the holes in order to close the cuffs.

Silk knot cufflinks are made entirely of silk with a knot at each end. They come in many different colours and work in the same way as chain link cufflinks. However, these are less formal than many designs and not the sort that you would wear to the office or a dinner party. They also tend to wear out more quickly than any other material.

Cufflinks can be made of many different materials including gold, silver, stainless steel, titanium, platinum, bronze, copper, metal alloy, precious and semi-precious stones, enamel and glass, mother of pearl, wood, leather, and more. Stainless steel, titanium, platinum, and some metal alloys have that kind of grey appearance and are cold-looking.

So, what sort of cufflinks should you wear and when? Well, it does depend upon the occasion, but it is often a good idea to have matching metals. So if you have a gold watch, gold ring, and so on, a pair of gold cufflinks would go well together, and of course you can buy gold cufflinks online in the UK.

For work, it rather depends on what your position is. If you are the “guvnor” you can wear whatever you want, but if not, you don’t really want to go to the office with silver and sapphire cufflinks and outdo the boss. Not a good idea. Equally, you wouldn’t wear a pair of diamond cufflinks to a barbecue: something much less formal would fit the occasion.

If you are feeling confident, then a contrasting pair of cufflinks can stand out. So, for instance, you might wear a dark suit and wear red cufflinks or green cufflinks to go with it. You really need to choose the right cufflinks to suit the particular occasion.