Always worn in pairs, cufflinks are small clothing accessories used to join the cuffs of a shirt, keeping them properly in place.
Just like rings and bracelets for women, cufflinks are seen by men as both a fashion accessory and a piece of jewellery. They let men stand out in any circumstance, with style and elegance.
Opportunities to wear cufflinks were once limited to ceremonies and formal evenings. Today, this jewellery also dresses up semi-formal, professional, and even casual outfits.
Does your job require a suit and tie, or the jacket/shirt combo every day? Why not elevate your outfit with cufflinks?
Discover our advice for wearing this small piece of jewellery with style at work, without any fashion faux pas.
Cufflinks: why wear them at work?
Cufflinks serve a social-representation function. Businessmen and society men are particularly fond of this fashion accessory, a symbol of refinement and elegance. Designer cufflinks, especially those made from precious materials (palladium, gold, rhodium, sterling silver, platinum, titanium, etc.), tend to be their favourites.
At work, if your company requires a suit and tie, this fashion accessory will quickly become essential. Wearing cufflinks is a great way to reflect your personality, helping you stand out from your colleagues. This small jewellery adds a touch of colour and a hint of whimsy to a formal or semi-formal outfit, with complete discretion and class.
You'll still need to know how to choose them carefully, to match your outfit and its other accessories!
Professional settings: which cufflinks should you adopt?
Several types of cufflinks can be worn in a professional setting. Choose them based on your company's dress code, your position in the hierarchy, and the circumstances you find yourself in.
Based on your company's dress code
Do you like to dress according to your mood and personalise your style every day? But does your workplace require a strict dress code, with a classic suit and tie mandatory? You can work around this and cultivate your individuality by focusing on elegant accessories, such as cufflinks. Discreet but classy, this small jewellery, when well chosen, brings style to a sober outfit.
If overt originality isn't well received at your company, we recommend adopting classic-shaped cufflinks (round, square or rectangular). They should be either silver, or in classic colours (dark blue, grey, white).
On the other hand, if your company accepts two-tone ties or a casual outfit (blazer, shirt, chinos and loafers), you can confidently focus on silk-knot cufflinks. They're understated and affordable. Available in a huge variety of colours, they easily brighten and personalise an outfit.
Based on your position in the hierarchy
If you're the boss, you can pretty much get away with anything. Have you set a strict dress code within your company? Then, if you want a flawless outfit down to the smallest detail, choose high-end cufflink designs (gold, silver, mother-of-pearl or precious stones). Your charisma and authority with your colleagues will only grow.
Do you hold a position of responsibility, but are (for now) under a line manager's authority? Focus on classic designs, and be tactful enough not to outshine your superiors!
If you work in a creative field or a young, dynamic start-up, you can play the originality card with quirky and distinctive-design (Lego, high-tech, etc.) cufflinks, no less elegant for it.
Whatever your line of work, the key is to respect the philosophy and values of the company you work for.
Based on the circumstances
In a professional setting, cufflinks are suited to every occasion: work meetings with clients, business lunches or dinners, official ceremonies, and more.
If you're client-facing, you'll need to adapt to your target audience when deciding whether or not to wear cufflinks. In any case, your outfit should serve your company's image.
If the overall atmosphere at your workplace is fairly "fun", you can go for original and quirky cufflinks.
Note that cufflinks can be worn with a suit or blazer without a tie. This gives you a semi-formal style, without compromising on elegance.
Careful! At a job interview, wearing a suit and tie with cufflinks could be seen as inappropriate. It all depends on the person recruiting you, and especially on the role you're applying for.
What type of shirt should you wear your cufflinks with?
Cufflinks quickly dress up a shirt the way a necklace dresses up a woman's neckline. The ultimate symbol of elegance, they can't be worn with just any shirt. To accommodate this small jewellery, shirt cuffs need to have 2 to 4 top-stitched buttonholes. These cuffs generally have no buttons of their own.
Three types of shirt meet this criterion: French-cuff shirts, convertible-cuff shirts, and simple-cuff shirts.
French-cuff shirts
Designed to accessorise and elevate an outfit, the cufflink is traditionally only worn with a dress shirt fitted with French cuffs, also known as "cuffs of elegance". The French cuff can be rounded, square, bevelled, or "swan-style" (one square side and one rounded).
Unlike a traditional shirt, the French-cuff shirt (or turn-back cuff shirt) has longer sleeves, which are folded back on themselves to form a cuff. Fitted with rigid, double-layered cuffs, which makes them fairly heavy, these particularly roomy sleeves have no buttons of their own. Each has 4 holes into which cufflinks are inserted.
The height of elegance, the French-cuff shirt, due to its ultra-formal style, is best worn with a tuxedo or tailcoat, for special occasions: ceremonies, formal evenings, weddings, and so on. The shirt should have a wing collar or a turndown collar.
Simple cufflink cuffs
The simple cufflink cuff, known in English as a "barrel cuff" or "single cuff", has only a single layer, exactly like a classic shirt cuff. The only difference is that it can only take cufflinks.
The simple cufflink cuff is more supple and lighter than the French cuff. It's also less formal.
Very popular and very easy to wear, simple cufflink cuffs suit both a semi-formal professional look and casual everyday wear.
Want one or more shirts with simple cufflink cuffs, at a lower cost? Simply ask a tailor to easily convert a classic button-cuff shirt for you.
Convertible-cuff shirts
A blend of the button cuff and the French cuff, the convertible cuff has no fold-back flap. It looks like a simple cuff, and comes in a rounded, square or bevelled shape.
With a modern style, the convertible cuff can be closed with either a classic shirt button or a cufflink.
This type of cuff is a good compromise between the button and the cufflink, and can also be worn on any occasion (formal, semi-formal or smart-casual).
How to match your cufflinks with your outfit?
To avoid a misstep and going "too much", your cufflinks need to match your outfit perfectly. In other words, you'll need to match the colour of this jewellery with your other accessories: ring, tie clip, watch, belt buckle, and so on. So no gold cufflinks with a silver watch, for example.
You can also match your cufflinks with one of the following accessories: your tie, your pocket square, your socks. Just don't match all three at once, or you risk looking a little ridiculous!
In short, your choice of cufflinks will make all the difference to your style.
We also recommend these other pages:
- Wearing cufflinks to a wedding
- Wearing cufflinks to a job interview
- 10 good reasons to wear cufflinks
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