Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette!
In today's video, we discuss how to pair cuff links with the rest of your outfit.
It seems like many men are not sure what kind of cuff links to wear and so in this video,
we are going to show you how to combine it and how to have fun with cuff links in clothing.
Generally, cuff links don't really pair well with suits so I suggest you look at your shirts.
Obviously, it depends on your personal taste but to start, I think a plain white or light
blue shirt works really well because you can have all kinds of cuff links on them.
They can be really contrasting, such as a green one, blue, red, a yellow, basically
anything that contrasts those colors will stand out.
Usually, your cuff links are hidden underneath your suit sleeve so if you have something
contrasting, they show up when you move around sometimes and you can get a little glimpse
of it which is nice.
If you have a solid white shirt, maybe a solid silver cuff link is not the best choice because
it blends in.
You can go with a gold cuff link because it's slightly more contrasting or you just get
something bolder in color.
Diamonds for day wear are not really recommended because they are strictly reserved for evening
wear.
Usually, it's a tacky thing to wear diamonds during the day and it just shows that you
don't have style but a lot of money.
If you have a striped shirt just like the one I'm wearing here right now, you can try
to combine the color with the stripe.
If it's yellow, you go with yellow.
If it's orange, with orange.
Brown with brown and so on.
In this outfit, I used orange as my accent color and it works really well with yellow
or rose gold; not so much with silver.
With the striped shirt, you also want to create contrast and depending on what kind of stripe
it is.
If it's a very fine stripe, you may actually get away with a pair of solid cuff links because
there's enough of a contrast but it really depends on the individual shirt.
Whether you choose a fixed bar cuff link, a chain cuff link, or a t-bar cuff link, ultimately,
it does not matter.
If you want to learn how to put on cuff links with different mechanisms, please check out
this video, here.
If you wear checked shirts, I suggest you keep it simple with your cuff links and either
go with a solid silver, solid gold, or solid rose gold, because checks are already busy
and by adding another strong contrasting cuff link, it's just over the top.
The goal is to create some contrast but to keep it balanced and harmonious.
If you have a black tie invitation and you wear your tuxedo, you wear a white shirt,
and you should usually go with either a gold and black insert such as an abalone stone
or dark mother of pearl.
You can also go with onyx or hematite.
Traditionally for white tie, you'd wear either pearl studs or mother of pearl studs paired
with matching mother of pearl cuff links that are white gold or platinum on the outside.
With a tuxedo you can go with gold or silver, it's up to you.
Black is the number one choice but you can also go with semi-precious or precious stones
in contrasting colors.
Another great way to wear cuff links is to coordinate them with your socks.
Here's an example with blue and yellow socks and other cuff links that you can match it
with.
If you have red or burgundy socks, you can go with a carnelian.
If you have brown or blue socks, you can go with lapis lazuli or a tiger's eye.
If you have a pair of grey socks or charcoal socks, a onyx or hematite or abalone stone
will work really well.
Basically, you just pick up a color in the socks and pair it with your cuff links, it
makes for a cool look and it's coordinated but it's subtle and stylish.
Of course, you can also match your cuff links with your tie and your pocket square.
Just like with socks. you want to ideally pick one of the colors and incorporate it
to your outfits.
What I did in this outfit is I paired a gold pair of monkey fist cuff links with a gold collar
clip and then I chose the ring that has like an orange stone because it goes well with
my shirt and my pocket square and parts of my tie.
Because the overall color palette of my outfit is warm such as orange and green, I chose
gold because it's a warmer color. Silver is good with cooler colors such as blue or grey.
If you are daring, you can also try to combine a pocket square that matches your socks and
your cuff links but what you should avoid is having the same tie and pocket square because
it just looks gaudy.
Overall, pairing cuff links is a lot easier than for example pairing pocket squares and
ties, and if you want to learn more about that, please check out this video here.
Personally, I'm a big fan of trying to pair my cuff links with pinky rings or in general,
rings, and little accessories such as a tie bar or a collar clip.
For example, here you can see how we combine a malachite pair of cuff links with a malachite
ring or tiger's eye cuff links with a tiger's eye ring or carnelian cuff links with a carnelian
ring.
Sometimes, it may not always work out as a hundred percent and that's okay, just try
to get something close that works together.
For example, I have a wedding band in gold so right now, I'm wearing gold but if I have
a silver pair of cuff links, with a silver pinky ring, that's okay too.
In general, you want to match the metal color of your cuff links to other items in your
outfit such as your rings or your belt buckle or your monk strap buckles.
Some people even match it to their luggage or their suitcases.
In my opinion, that's a little over the top, and if it aligns that way, that's great but
if not, don't stress out about it because elegance and style is about being confident
and not being overly anal about matching everything exactly to the tee.
If you liked the cuff links in this video, take a closer look at them here.
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