Cufflinks (Ties & Pocket Squares)

Cufflinks come as a pair of fasteners that thread through matching buttonholes on a cuff with no button sewn to it. They exist for the French cuff, also sold as a double cuff. This is cut twice as long and folded back on itself so there are four layers of fabric and four holes to line up. Remove the links and the cuff hangs open, which sets these apart from every other accessory here.

How the link locks is the decision that matters daily. A bullet back, also sold as a whale back or toggle, carries a small hinged bar that lies flat to pass through the holes and turns crosswise to lock. The hinge is what eventually gives out. Fixed backings have no moving parts, so nothing can break, though pushing one through four layers takes patience. Chain links join two heads with a short chain, the oldest form and the loosest. Silk knots are two woven balls on a cord costing very little.

Rigidity decides how the cuff sits on your wrist. A short toggle pulls the two folded edges tight into a barrel shape. A chain lets them meet face to face in what tailors call a kissing cuff, which drapes softly and moves with the arm. Keep in mind that the back of a link shows as much as the front once your hand is up. That means a plain rear behind an ornate face looks unfinished. Shirt studs do the equivalent job down the front of a formal shirt, and a tie bar stays optional where these are load bearing.

Jacket wearers get the most from them, since a double cuff needs a sleeve to sit against and looks stranded without one. Formality runs in a clear order: mother of pearl or black onyx for black tie, plain metal or small enamel for business, novelty shapes for almost nothing. Skip them if you type all day with your wrists on the desk, because the link sits right under the wrist bone and digs in. Soft casual shirts and short sleeves have nowhere to put them.

Work a hinged back open and shut twenty times in the shop, since looseness you feel now becomes a link that flips open in a sleeve later. Weight should sit toward the face rather than the rear, or the link rotates and shows its underside all evening. Plating wears at the post first, which is the difference between a pair lasting a decade and one lasting a season. Take them out before a shirt goes near a washing machine, keep pairs boxed together, and polish silver now and then, since tarnish reads as dirt at close range.