Collectors
- Cufflinks need a cuff with two buttonholes and no button - either a French (double) cuff or a link cuff. A standard barrel cuff cannot take them.
- You thread the link through all four holes at once, not through each cuff separately.
- Kissing cuffs - edges pressed together, link showing on both sides - is the traditional and more elegant presentation.
- Bullet-back or toggle closures are the easiest to use one-handed and the right default for a first pair.
You Need the Right Cuff First
The cuff on most shirts is a barrel cuff: a single layer that wraps the wrist and fastens with a button. It cannot take a cufflink, because there is a button in the way and only one hole to thread.
What you need is a French cuff, also called a double cuff. It is roughly twice as long as a barrel cuff, folds back on itself, and has no buttons at all - just two buttonholes on each side, which line up into four holes once folded. Some shirts also come with a link cuff, a single-layer cuff with two buttonholes and no button, which takes a cufflink without the fold.
A small number of shirts have a convertible cuff, with both a button and a second buttonhole positioned to accept a link. These are a compromise and they look like one, because the button sits visibly beside the cufflink. Serviceable for travel, not what you would choose.
If you own no French-cuff shirts, that is the purchase that has to come first. Buying cufflinks before the shirt is the most common beginner sequence error, and it is why so many pairs sit unused in drawers.
How to Put Cufflinks On, Step by Step
Put the shirt on before you touch the cufflinks, and do the collar and the front buttons first. Threading a link into a cuff while the shirt is still on a hanger only means you have to get your hand through a closed cuff afterwards.
Fold the cuff back on itself along its crease, so the two ends meet and all four buttonholes line up. Now bring the two edges together the way you want them - see the next section on kissing versus barrel presentation - and hold them aligned between finger and thumb.
Push the cufflink's post through all four holes in a single pass, entering from the outside so the decorative face ends up on the outside of your wrist. Then close the backing: swivel a bullet-back to sit crosswise behind the cuff, or seat a whale-back flat. That is it.
Do your non-dominant hand first, while your dominant hand is free and unencumbered. Then do the awkward one. Most people find the second cuff easier if they rest their forearm on a flat surface instead of holding it in the air.
Kissing Cuffs vs Barrel Cuffs
Kissing presentation means the two cuff edges are pressed face to face, so the cuff forms a flat oval and the cufflink shows on both sides of your wrist. This is the traditional European presentation, it is what most people mean by a properly worn French cuff, and it is what the cufflink's design assumes - which is why good links are finished on both faces.
Barrel presentation, sometimes called overlapping or American style, laps one edge over the other the way a buttoned cuff sits. It shows the link on one side only and hides the back. It is not wrong, and it is slightly more comfortable under a tight jacket sleeve, but it wastes half of what you paid for.
Whichever you choose, the cuff should extend past your jacket sleeve by roughly a quarter to a half inch. Any less and the cufflink disappears, which defeats the purpose; much more and the shirt looks borrowed. This is a tailoring question as much as a dressing one - if no shirt cuff ever shows, the jacket sleeves are too long.
The Backing Types, and Which to Buy
Bullet-back or toggle links have a small cylinder that pivots on the post. You turn it in line with the post to thread, then swivel it crosswise to lock. This is the most common mechanism, the easiest to operate one-handed, and the right default for a first pair.
Whale-back links use a flat flipping tab instead of a cylinder. They thread easily and sit flatter behind the cuff, which some people prefer under a snug sleeve. Mechanically they are just as good.
Fixed-back links have no moving parts - a solid decorative element at each end, threaded through by working the whole piece diagonally. They are the most elegant and the most durable, because nothing can wear out, and the most annoying to put on. Chain-link designs connect two faces with a short chain, sit loosest, and are the traditional formal choice.
Silk knots, sometimes called monkey's fists, are two woven silk balls joined by a cord. They are inexpensive, comfortable, and read as relaxed rather than cheap, and they are the best possible way to find out whether you like wearing French cuffs before spending money on metal. Buy a set in several colours and treat them as consumables.
When Cufflinks Are Appropriate - and Which Ones
Black tie has a settled answer: mother-of-pearl or onyx links with matching studs, or plain precious metal. This is the one context with actual rules, and following them is easier than improvising. White tie is stricter still and expects mother-of-pearl.
Business and formal daywear is open. Simple metal links in the same tone as your watch case and belt buckle are the safest choice and look deliberate rather than decorative. Enamel, stone, and knot links all work in a professional setting; novelty links - logos, cartoons, tiny functioning devices - are a bigger statement than most people intend, and they are read as one.
The general principle is that cufflinks are the second thing anyone notices about a sleeve, after the fit. Keep them consistent with your other metals, keep the scale modest, and let the fact that you are wearing French cuffs at all do the work. For the other end of the same wrist, our guide to wearing a watch covers how a cuff and a watch should coexist, and our fountain pen guide and sunglasses roundup cover the other pieces in this category.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you wear cufflinks with a normal shirt?
Not with a standard barrel cuff, which has a button and only one buttonhole. You need a French cuff, a link cuff, or a convertible cuff - anything with two buttonholes and no button in the way. Check the cuff before buying links.
Which way should cufflinks face?
The decorative face goes on the outside of your wrist, which means threading the link from the outside inward. On a properly finished pair the back is presentable too, since kissing-cuff presentation leaves it visible on the inner side of the wrist.
How much shirt cuff should show below a jacket sleeve?
Roughly a quarter to a half inch. Less and the cufflink is hidden; considerably more and the proportion looks off. If no cuff ever shows, the problem is jacket sleeve length rather than the shirt.
Do you wear a watch with cufflinks?
Yes, and it is the normal thing to do. The practical adjustment is thickness - a chunky sports watch fights a French cuff, while a thin dress watch slides under it. Wear the watch on your usual wrist and let the cuff sit over it.
Are silk knot cufflinks acceptable?
For business and social wear, entirely - they are a long-established option, not a downgrade. They are also the cheapest way to test whether you enjoy wearing French cuffs. For black tie, use mother-of-pearl, onyx, or plain metal instead.
What is the difference between cufflinks and shirt studs?
Cufflinks close a cuff; studs replace the front buttons on a formal dress shirt with a stud placket. They are usually sold as a matched set for black tie, and a stud set only works on a shirt built to accept it - a normal buttoned front cannot take studs.
Related Guides
How We Research
Our guides draw on manufacturer documentation, established industry practice, and what we learn testing and researching products for our buying guides. Where practice varies or opinion divides, we say so rather than pretending at consensus.
Storage note: Keep links in a compartmented tray rather than loose in a drawer. Enamel and stone faces chip against each other, and the single most common way a good pair is ruined is contact with other hard jewellery. A soft-lined box with dividers costs very little and solves it permanently.