Refined and sometimes luxurious, the cufflink is often seen as a fashion item to pair with business attire or a distinguished silk suit, worn for an important event. Yet tailors and menswear shops are sweeping away these preconceptions by offering more and more unconventional, even whimsical cufflinks.
Indeed, while the classic silver, gold or stainless-steel cufflink is still appreciated in formal settings, men can now assert themselves and add a note of originality to their suit with different designs. Whether through their colour, their material, or unusual details, these cufflinks stand out, and there's something for every taste. Just be careful to keep a certain consistency and to properly match your cufflinks with your shirt, watch, jacket and jewellery, to avoid a clownish look!
Play with materials, colours, shapes and patterns for an original touch
Assert your personality without going overboard
If you're tired of your overly classic pair of cufflinks, but the setting calls for a bit of restraint, know that there are shirt accessories that sit halfway between elegance and originality. You can play with several cufflink details, particularly the materials, to make it a slightly more original accessory:
- Leather shirt-cuff fasteners let you stand out without overdoing it. You can choose a steel or silver design with a leather insert to keep things fairly understated, or a motif cut from leather, such as a bow tie.
- The fabric cufflink (silk and cotton in particular) can also break from the ordinary, especially when it comes in colours, floral or geometric patterns, and so on.
- With wooden cufflinks on your wrists, you also give your outfit a different style, while keeping genuine elegance. The choice is between plain designs and ones adorned with engravings, sometimes even cut into original shapes.
Put together a slightly more original outfit thanks to your cufflinks
With the aim of creating a certain contrast between your smart suit and your cufflinks, or to build your own style, you can also count on slightly more original accessories:
- Cufflinks shaped like fruit such as watermelon or banana are fairly easy to wear without a jacket during the summer season, and there's a whole collection based around food and drink (burgers, a glass of beer, a wine bottle, etc.).
- All sorts of designs for showing off your love of music come in the shape of a guitar, a piano keyboard, musical notes, a vinyl record, and cufflinks featuring your favourite band.
- Shirt cufflinks on an "animal" theme are also widely represented, from a black beetle to a yellow duck, by way of a turtle, a penguin, and even a kangaroo or a dinosaur.
- For sports fans, you can choose from cufflinks shaped like a rugby ball, a billiard ball, a basketball, a tennis racket, a skateboard, or football boots: every sport seems to be represented among the huge selection of accessories on offer.
- Men who love superheroes and film aren't left out either, since Batman, Darth Vader, Spider-Man, James Bond, Captain America and so many other legendary film characters and objects also have their own designs to dress men's shirt cuffs.
This is just a tiny fraction of the original cufflinks out there, as there's a truly vast collection in reality. The main thing to remember is that almost anything you're looking for in cufflinks is available somewhere online or in a menswear and suit shop!
Go for completely unusual cufflinks
If nothing scares you and you want to sport a quirky suited look, you'll find plenty to satisfy you here too! Cufflink designers are constantly dreaming up new designs, very different from the traditional ones we're used to seeing on the wrists of businessmen or wedding party members.
Among them are cufflinks that play the multifunction card: cufflinks with a built-in USB drive, ones featuring a real clock or compass, ones containing a spirit level, LEDs, and so on. To really stand out from the crowd, you can also opt for shirt-cuff fasteners far larger than average, which are guaranteed to be noticed.
And if you find all that still a little too ordinary and impersonal, don't hesitate to have personalised cufflinks made! Certain specialist craftspeople create made-to-order designs, or let you insert a photo of your choice.
Original cufflinks: to be worn on any occasion?
In principle, whatever the occasion for wearing a shirt and suit and tie, you can dare a few small accessories that break up the overly formal feel of the outfit a little. That said, this isn't a reason to sport a completely whimsical or XXL-sized pair of cufflinks for an important business meeting or a gala evening.
But if you work in a creative field or company, you can choose cufflinks linked to your line of work, such as the following examples:
- In the world of IT or gaming, you might be tempted by designs shaped like a memory chip, a computer keyboard key, a games controller, and so on.
- If you work in the food industry, why not choose cufflinks shaped like a corkscrew, a sparkling champagne bottle, a croissant, or a cupcake? The list is long and matches every profession, from a black or metal-toned design that's easy to pair with your shirt, watch and belt, to multicoloured cuff accessories.
- Salespeople and executives in the car industry can choose shirt-cuff fasteners shaped like a steering wheel, a car wheel, a motorbike, a rev counter, and so on.
- If your work revolves around tourism and travel, you'll easily find a pair of cufflinks shaped like a plane, a ship's wheel, a surfboard, a world map, a flag, and so on.
At a wedding, whether you're the lucky groom or a member of the wedding party, you also have the chance to add an original touch to your shirt with unusual cufflinks, especially if there's a set theme. Mickey Mouse or Peter Pan cufflinks will make an impression for a Disney-themed evening, Las Vegas, Hollywood or Route 66 sign designs will suit an "American" wedding, and accessories shaped like a leaf, with a tree insert, or a butterfly will fit right in for a nature-themed union.
Certain special occasions are also a chance for a man to wear an outfit matching the theme, thanks to the details added to his shirt cuffs. Think, for example, of a pumpkin, a bat, a skull or a spider's web for Halloween, available in a range of shapes, in colour, silver or any other metal. At Christmas, a wool tie isn't the only accessory that can dress up a suit. Original cufflinks have their place too: a colourful Santa, a snowflake, a reindeer, an elf, a present — again, there's no shortage of ideas. And of course, a pair of original cufflinks can absolutely find its way under the tree as a Christmas gift for your man!
We also recommend these other pages:
- Matching your cufflinks with your shirt
- Matching your cufflinks with your bow tie
- Matching your cufflinks with your tie
- Which accessories go well with cufflinks?
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