Why I like wearing cuff links?

[Cufflink79]

Why do I like wearing cuff links?

They're one size fits all.

Like a bespoke suit, you can have them made any way you'd like.

They're a great way to start up a conversation.

They're also a great way to get noticed.

Cuff links have led me to great friends.

They're a great to look at and remember great times.

Women like a gentleman who puts in that extra touch of detail.

These are just a few of my many reason for liking those wearable forms of art on one's shirt cuff.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

[marcelo]

They're a great way to start up a conversation

how?

[marcelo]

I love cuff links when they are linked by a real link.
They are the missing link in a perfect triplet-triplet: at the upper part of the body there will be the magical meeting of a necktie, jacket, and shirt; at the lower part the focal point is the aesthetical pleasure provided by the encounter of shoes, socks, and trouser. In the middle, considering that a watch is not really part of one’s garment, the third triplet is represented by the shirt cuff, cuff link, and the jacket sleeve. It is an odd sort of symmetry.

[Costi]

A few more reasons not about cufflinks, but about what comes with them:

There are no cuff buttons to lose.

The French cuff fills the coat’s sleeve better than a barrel cuff.

The 2 cm handsewn buttonholes on your cuffs look beautiful.

[marcelo]

The French cuff fills the coat’s sleeve better than a barrel cuff.

Indeed! I’ve got a jacket which I prefer to wear with cuff links because I have otherwise the unpleasant impression that the shirt cuffs hang rather loose inside of the jacket sleeves. – Well, it might be argued that the jacket at issue simply does not fit comme if faut, but the cuff links do a good job in optically lessening this shortcoming.

[Cufflink79]

They're a great way to start up a conversation

how?

Dear Marcelo:

That can be a two way street. In which someone notices my cuff links and asked where I had acquired them, or to get a better look at them.

In some case, I myself have don the same thing and also have asked people about the crest or symbol on the their cuff links and what they symbolize or something around those grounds.

The conversation can led to more cuff link details or to something else. One time someone noticed my Swedish crown cuff links. The conversation went from how the cuff links were made, to his trip to Sweden years ago, to how we both had some Swedish genes in us from our families, and finally led to us discovering we both knew the same person in Minnesota.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

[marcelo]

Cufflink79, this is a very interesting story, indeed. It had not occurred to me that cuff links could have such a social function. I have been thinking about some questions concerning the use of cuff links, but I had not felt sufficiently motivated to start a new thread thus far. Cufflink79’s splendid initiative gives me the opportunity.

How do fellow gentlemen coordinate their cuff links, if at all? In wearing a navy blazer – supposing one will wear them with a blazer – would you coordinate them with the buttons? I myself prefer to avoid them in this case. Do you take into consideration if it is day or evening when choosing a pair of cuff links? Do you attach your cuff links to the shirt before putting your shirt on? This is my favourite method, but if the shirt cuffs do not fit appropriately there is the risk of either damaging your shirt or breaking the cuff links' chain.

[Costi]

In wearing a navy blazer – supposing one will wear them with a blazer – would you coordinate them with the buttons? I myself prefer to avoid them in this case.

In this particular case I avoid the mixing of yellow and white metal, or indeed I may choose a pair with stones or enamel.

Do you take into consideration if it is day or evening when choosing a pair of cuff links?

I don't wear golden or black links during the day. This may well be a personal rule, though.

Do you attach your cuff links to the shirt before putting your shirt on? This is my favourite method, but if the shirt cuffs do not fit appropriately there is the risk of either damaging your shirt or breaking the cuff links' chain.

I always attach the links with the shirt on. I find that, on the contrary, if the shirt fits properly, it shouldn't be easy to put the hand through the cuff with the links on. Otherwise how will the cuff rest on the root of your thumb? I have thin wrists, so my cuffs need to be quite narrow to sit properly.

[Cufflink79]

As for my personal preference of wearing cuff links with a blue blazer, I wear gold cuff links to go with the buttons, or else I'll wear silk knots that coordinate with the tie. A friend of mine says he'll wear cuff links with a DB blazer but not a SB blazer. As for me, I'll do both.

As for attaching the cuff links into the shirt cuffs, I tend to put them on first and then carefully put on the shirt. Although sometimes I'll put them through the first two button holes, put on the shirt and then do the rest with the shirt on.

When I wear my snappers, (KUM A PART) those are pretty simple to put on. Pull apart, place into the button holes, put on the shirt, and snap the cuffs links and cuffs into place. With snap cuff links though you'll want a shirt that has a pretty big cuff to it. The reason being, smaller cuffs will just close up too tight.

I've had good luck with my T&A and Robert Talbott shirts when wearing snappers.

As for cuff links with a sport coat, that is a great time for you to show sporting theme cuff links such as golf, fishing, hunting, and riding etc.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

[Trey]

Gentlemen:

I prefer wearing links required shirts, especially when suiting up and occassionally when wearing a sport coat or blazer. I prefer double sided links, which are increasingly harder to find. I like silk links. I have great vintage/antique snappers that are stunning. I occassionally wear my late maternal grandfather's monogrammed links even though his initials are not mine - talk about a conversation piece.

What collar style do you gentlemen prefer with your links shirts? Over time, after experimenting with various collar spreads (point, wide spread, collar pin, etc.) I generally prefer the old tennis style Brooks Brothers collar. The collar seemingly fits my face best and looks right with links.

In several Cary Grant movies he often wore cuffed shirts with button down collars. Maybe he could pull that off, but that look is to much of a contradiction to me and sends a confusing message.

Trey

[Cufflink79]

I to have also noticed many Cary Grant movies in which he is wearing a button down collar with double cuffs and cuff links. That's not a look I'd endorse personally, but somehow someway, Cary Grant looked great no matter what he wore.

One should always try to pick a collar that corresponds with their face, in which you what to match it but not exactly, as you would your tie and pocket square such as a striped tie and checked pocket square.

As in the case of shirts you'll what a wider spread collar for a thinner face, and closer point collar for wider face. My face is a bit wide but I have gotten addicted to cutaway collars when I wear double cuffs with a suit or blazer, thanks to my good friend and haberdasher Jess Blea.

For myself I enjoy the following.

Contrasting collar and cuffs cutaway/spread collar with cuff links = 2x6 DB suit/blazer or SB suit/blazer.

Plain white or blue, striped color, and checked color cutaway/spread with cuff links = same as above.

Plain white or blue, striped color, and checked color point collar with cuff links = same as above and with sport jacket.

Plain white or blue, striped color, and checked color rounded collar with cuff links = blazer and sport jacket. (Contrasting rounded collars with blazer only though)

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

[Cufflink79]

In several Cary Grant movies he often wore cuffed shirts with button down collars. Maybe he could pull that off, but that look is to much of a contradiction to me and sends a confusing message.

Trey

When Trey brought up Cary Grant wearing BD collars with cuff links, it reminded me of a very old post I had put up. have a look.

http://thelondonlounge.net/gl/forum/vie ... php?t=5184

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

[marcelo]

In wearing a navy blazer – supposing one will wear them with a blazer – would you coordinate them with the buttons? I myself prefer to avoid them in this case.

In this particular case I avoid the mixing of yellow and white metal, or indeed I may choose a pair with stones or enamel.

Do you take into consideration if it is day or evening when choosing a pair of cuff links?

I don't wear golden or black links during the day. This may well be a personal rule, though.

Do you attach your cuff links to the shirt before putting your shirt on? This is my favourite method, but if the shirt cuffs do not fit appropriately there is the risk of either damaging your shirt or breaking the cuff links' chain.

I always attach the links with the shirt on. I find that, on the contrary, if the shirt fits properly, it shouldn't be easy to put the hand through the cuff with the links on. Otherwise how will the cuff rest on the root of your thumb? I have thin wrists, so my cuffs need to be quite narrow to sit properly.

Thanks for your comments.
Maybe it is only a matter of dexterity, something I confess not to be lavishly endowed with, but it may prove to be difficult a task to get the cufflinks through the holes with one hand, being unable to use the other one, if your cufflinks are not linked by a swivel, but by a tiny chain. This is the reason I usually attach the cuff links before – carefully – putting the shirt on.

Something I have noticed is that fellow Loungers do not hesitate to use cuff links with a blazer or sport coat, something I thought most men would frown upon. Maybe I have to reconsider this "rule".

[RWS]

. . . . Maybe it is only a matter of dexterity, something I confess not to be lavishly endowed with, but it may prove to be difficult a task to get the cufflinks through the holes with one hand, being unable to use the other one, if your cufflinks are not linked by a swivel, but by a tiny chain. This is the reason I usually attach the cuff links before – carefully – putting the shirt on.

I, too, find the task difficult -- I've even been late to the theater because of the desperate struggle -- but, as I generally have my shirts cut without overly spacious cuffs, I've no choice other than to follow the same practice Costi endorses. Yet another reason to take a wife, I suppose!

Something I have noticed is that fellow Loungers do not hesitate to use cuff links with a blazer or sport coat, something I thought most men would frown upon. Maybe I have to reconsider this "rule".

I'm reluctant to wear linked cuffs with odd jackets but will occasionally when I'm not beating about the countryside: in today's lax and crumbling system of dressing, it's a way to maintain a bit of formality or (as may be) of flash while appearing casually dressed -- or so I think.

[marcelo]

...Yet another reason to take a wife, I suppose!

Indeed, or never to leave mother’s nest, alternatively. While I was writing, I even considered mentioning that once I did have to recur to my beloved wife’s help with my cuff links in order not to get late at a dinner party.
Yes, I think I will wear cuff links more often than I have been wearing thus far.