How to Wear Cufflinks

So, your beloved great uncle gave you a pair of cufflinks for your birthday. They might’ve even be his from way back in the day, the ones he wore to the office back in the ’60s. You’re touched. Only problem? You have no idea how to wear cufflinks.

First off: No need to be embarrassed. These days, cufflinks are a relic of an earlier and more formal era, and unless you’ve had much occasion to wear a tuxedo lately, you might not have ever come across them.

That said, it’s time you did suit up and embrace some cufflinks. Maybe at an important meeting, maybe at your buddy’s wedding, maybe just for a quiet date night out. Not because you need them. But because they signal, quietly and intentionally, that, yeah, you tried.

Here’s everything you need to know about cufflinks, including where they came from, the style icons who helped bring them mainstream, what kind of shirt you need to wear, and how to put them on.

What are cufflinks?

Cufflinks are small, decorative fasteners designed to hold together the cuffs of a specific type of dress shirt. Unlike button-cuff shirts, French cuff shirts (a.k.a. double cuff shirts) come without the buttons but with an extra length of fabric at the end of the sleeve that folds back and needs to be linked together. If you don’t own the shirt, you can’t wear the links. That’s the deal.

While French cuff shirts are less common today, they were standard in the armoires of wealthy 17th-century Europeans, whom eventually grew tired of cinching the cuffs together with bits of ribbon or string. Enter the “sleeve button,” a decorative bit usually fashioned of glass, gold, or silk knots, and worn by the kind of men who had enough time on their hands to put powder in their wigs. At its origin, the jewelry had a job. Hold it together! But they quickly became more of a flex, monogrammed, bejeweled, or otherwise. Less Hodor and more the guy in the velvet dinner jacket who holds the door open for you at Carbone.

Mass production brought on during the Industrial Revolution led to more styles, more materials and more men looking to express themselves from their wrists. Cufflinks became a formalwear staple, commonplace in the office and at weekend events. They hit their peak in the 20th century: think Connery’s Bond, JFK’s presidential 14k ovals, Frank Sinatra’s gold-and-onyx pairs. Even Elvis got in on it, reportedly owning some shaped like guitars.

Today, they’ve evolved into something akin to a sartorial secret handshake. You’re most likely to still need them with a proper tuxedo shirt on black-tie occasions—along with some studs, which are essentially smaller cufflinks for the front placket. Otherwise, wearing cufflinks now is purely an aesthetic choice. Most dress shirts you encounter these days will come with button cuffs, so seeking out French cuffs—and putting up with the mild inconvenience they engender—is simply a way to subtly stand out and add one quiet yet satisfying click to the ritual of getting dressed.

What are the different styles of cufflinks?

Cufflinks come in a handful of styles, each with its own personality and level of formality. Dig deep enough in your grandfather’s old trunk and you’ll probably find them all.