How to wear cufflinks

Cufflinks are the one piece of jewellery most men wear without a second thought, and the one most often worn slightly wrong. The rules are few: the right shirt, the cuff the right way round, and a pair that suits the day.

The shirt comes first

Cufflinks need a cuff with a buttonhole on both sides and no button. The usual one is the double cuff — called a French cuff in America — which is twice the normal length and folded back on itself, so the link passes through four layers of cloth.

A single link cuff is one layer with a buttonhole either side: neater, a little less substantial, and seen on some evening shirts. A convertible cuff has a button and a second buttonhole, so it takes either; it will do at a pinch, though the link always looks a little borrowed.

Double cuffs are the more formal, and the usual choice with a dinner suit or morning dress. Whatever the cuff, about a centimetre of shirt should show below the jacket sleeve. Cufflinks hidden up a sleeve are a good pair wasted.

Kissing cuffs, the right way round

Bring the two edges of a double cuff together so that their inner faces touch and the edges point away from the wrist — the kissing cuff, so called because the two halves meet like lips. It is the conventional way, and it shows the link at its best.

Overlapping the edges like a buttoned cuff — the barrel style — is sometimes seen, but it pulls the fold out of shape and hides half the link.

1. 1

   Fold the double cuff back along its crease so the buttonholes line up.

2. 2

   Pinch the two edges together, inner faces touching, so all four holes meet.

3. 3

   Turn the cufflink’s toggle so it lies in line with the post.

4. 4

   Push it through all four holes, with the decorative face on the outside of the wrist.

5. 5

   Turn the toggle back across the hole to lock it in place.

6. 6

   Repeat on the other wrist and check that both faces sit the same way.

Swivel, chain or fixed

Swivel fittings, also called T-bar, are the commonest and the easiest: a toggle on a post turns flat to go through the holes and turns across them to lock. Most of the cufflinks in our shop have them.

Chain links join two faces with a short chain. They are the oldest kind and the most comfortable, since the cuff can move freely, but they take patience to fasten with one hand.

Fixed backs have no moving parts at all — a rigid bar or a second face on a solid post — so there is nothing to wear out. They are a little stiffer to push through a starched cuff.

Metals that agree

Match the cufflinks to the watch, the tie bar and the belt buckle: silver-coloured with steel or silver, gold with gold. That matters more than matching the tie, which can carry any colour it likes. When the watch and the ring disagree, a two-tone pair keeps the peace.

For work, a silver-coloured rectangular pair goes with almost every shirt and tie a man owns. Plain metal or a quiet enamel suits business; save the jokes for Fridays and friends.

For black tie, black enamel, onyx or mother-of-pearl is the classic, ideally with shirt studs to match. A black enamel cufflink and stud set settles the question in one box.

Cufflinks for the wedding party

Enamelled wedding cufflinks name each man’s part: Best Man, Usher, Father of the Bride and Father of the Groom. They are a customary thank-you from the groom, often given on the morning, and they tell the guests whom to ask for directions.

The groom usually wears something of his own — plain silver-coloured, or a pair with a story behind it — so that he stands apart. See ties for the groom and wedding party for the rest of the outfit.

Country cufflinks

Shotgun cartridges, pheasants and fishing flies belong with tweed. Country shirts seldom have double cuffs, so country cufflinks come into their own at the shoot dinner, the hunt ball and the country wedding.

A pair of shotgun cartridge cufflinks is a good present for a man who shoots, and lasts rather longer than a bottle of port. Wear them with a plain tie or a country tie, and let one sporting motif lead.