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During the 1990s, forward-thinking designers such as Ted Baker started producing sport shirts with French cuffs. At the same time, cufflinks began to evolve beyond the staid gold or silver fastenings a young man was given at his graduation. They became far more whimsical and flamboyant, offering opportunities for individual expression that ranged from subtle elegance to eye-catching bling. Today, it is perfectly fine to dress up a sports jacket with a French-cuffed shirt and cufflinks, just as you might dress down a suit with an open shirt and no tie on appropriate occasions. Never mind that the purists are turning in their graves: purists no longer call the shots. The rules have been relaxed in a lot of areas and that is refreshing.

Historical links
Fashionable men have always tried to prevent their shirt cuffs from slipping down over their hands. Medieval ribbons were eventually replaced by buttons which became increasingly elaborate. By the 1680s, wealthy English gentlemen sported jewelled or enameled gold “cuff buttons;” some even consisted of tiny portraits painted onto the underside of glass. The adoption of the French-cuffed shirt in the mid-19th century saw a dramatic increase in the use of cufflinks, especially when they began to be mass produced. For the next century, they were part of a man’s dressier suit wardrobe and provided his only opportunity (apart from a watch and ring) to wear any kind of jewellery. In the last decade or so, sophisticated dressers have exploited the cufflink’s potential for whimsy, catered to by brilliantly imaginative designers such as Robert Tateossian and Jan Leslie. Materials used are no longer restricted to precious metals, gems or knots of silk. Stylish cufflinks can be found using leather, glass, tiny watches or barometers, even fused bundles of fibre-optic glass – anything to offer an illuminating flash of colour and light at a man’s wrist.