Cufflinks Fashion Tips

Over at Men.Style.Com, Katherine Wheelock tears into French cuffs – and cufflinks by association – with loads of snark and vitriol. “Unless your name is Lagerfeld, Wonka, or Prince Such-and-Such, you do not have license to wear French cuffs – under any circumstances.” Wheelock overloads her article with mocking sexual overtones and relegates cufflinks to ‘artifact of a bygone age’ status.

I respectfully disagree.

Ms. Wheelock is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. It’s true that gaudy, ostentatious cufflinks don’t look that smart – of course they don’t, they’re gaudy and ostentatious. That’s not because they’re cufflinks, but because they’re ugly cufflinks.

The article also disputes the idea that links make a good impression on the ladies. I’m sure that there are plenty of ladies that don’t go for them, but my experience is that there are plenty that do. I can’t remember a time when I’ve gone out to a bar or club in French cuffs and not gone home with at least a phone number. And most of those times, the conversation starter was a compliment on my cufflinks.

There’s nothing wrong with French cuffs, or with the cufflinks that go with them. In fact, one point I can agree with Katherine on is that ‘open-cuffers’ – people who try to achieve a ‘cool’ look by wearing French cuffs sans cufflinks – just look messy and unstylish.

The simple truth is that no accessory is inherently good or bad; it depends on how it’s worn. Always dress appropriate to the occasion; if you’re going to try to pull off French cuffs in a more casual environment, it’s a good idea to pick fun cufflinks that don’t look like they came from your grandfather’s sock drawer.

The Future Is The Past: Retro Cufflinks And Why They Are Awesome

A friend showed me Canadian artist Clockwork Zero’s Flickr account a few days ago, and I have to admit she’s making some seriously cool stuff. Granted, it’s mostly pendants and cameos, but how cool would some vaccuum tube cufflinks be? The thought piqued my curiosity.

I turned to Google and looked up ‘Retro Cufflinks’. I turned up Some Retro Reflective Blue & Gray Enamel Round Silver Cufflinks
Image here

I’ve been looking through the store to try and find some product that matches this Industrial Revolution vibe, and I think I’ve managed to find a few cufflinks that qualify.

Wii Want To Wear

Game-themed cufflinks – cards, dice, dominos, etc. – are nothing new. And the odd high-tech set of links shows up every now and then, like a circuit or these iPod cufflinks. But with the gaming hobby aiming at a more mature demographic than ever before – ages 25-35- and the Nintendo Wii’s userbase even trending a bit older, it’s not too much of a shock to see these Nintendo Wii cufflinks from Ravi Ratan get some love on techie mega-blog Engadget.

These sterling silver links explode the myth that gamers don’t dress well, no?

What’s really shocking is that these Wii cufflinks aren’t the first gamer cufflinks we’ve seen. We’ve also spied the PlayStation’s DualShock controller and the Game Boy Color adorning gamers’ French cuffs. Hopefully this collision of gaming and fashion ends up being a better idea than Marc Ecko’s video game.