Often times men’s cufflinks have been linked to high society and associated with people that have a lot of money and fine luxuries in life. Although cufflinks are more available now to the average man, custom cufflinks do still have the remarkable ability even in this age, to make one appear rich and powerful. The history of men’s cufflinks is the reason they still to this day have the reputation of being worn by the rich. Before the world of buttons and cufflinks something was needed to hold the openings for the arms and head together of the shirt. These openings would be made larger by tailors so people had plenty of room to put the shirt on and off. Ribbon was used to tie these openings together but eventually around the mid-13th Century tailors chose to use buttons to pin the sleeves together. By the early 16th Century the trend had turned to two buttons linked together with a chain. This new fashion statement became very popular with the upper class gentlemen and they would wear them to any of the special events including things such as weddings. Since King Charles II was seen wearing them every time he was in public, cufflinks became known as used by high society and royalty. Men’s cufflinks were originally called “sleeve buttons” until 1788. Every wealthy man had cufflinks as apart of their wardrobe by that point and the trend that started in England gradually spread quickly all throughout Europe. The jewelry designers began to experiment and design bolder and more creative styles to please men all over. As they started to add more jewels and monograms to the cufflink designs, it became very common for them to be handmade by a jeweler, which in turn did end up making them extremely pricey. Eventually the demand became high enough that production increased and it became cheaper to make men’s cufflinks since everything became more uniform, even with the wide array of designs and styles. Since the price became more reasonable businessmen started to incorporate them into their everyday wardrobes instead of saving them only for special occasions. More and more basic, simple and less expensive designs were being produced, and this ended up producing the toggle closure that we are most familiar with today. The 1960s was the downfall to them because of designers adding buttons to most formal shirts. Even though they are not as necessary as they used to be, men of high fashion and style still know the importance of cufflinks and how they give an aura of high society and affluent power all on their very own. When you look for men’s cufflinks, think about how many shirts they will be used and worn with in the wardrobe. Will the man wearing the men’s cufflinks need to have one really nice pair for special occasions or many cheaper pairs to wear in daily business life?
