Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette!
Today's video is all about French cuff shirts.
We're going to discuss their history and construction, how to wear them and when it's appropriate
to do so, as well as the overall discussion on this topic and our own personal thoughts.
Before we get into the specifics of French cuffs today, let's do a brief overview of
shirt cuff styles, in general.
First, button cuffs also called barrel cuffs.
They've got buttonholes on one side of the cuff and buttons on the other.
Anywhere from 1 to 3 buttons or sometimes more.
Although one to two buttons is standard just so the fit of the cuff can be adjusted.
Barrel cuffs are the everyday choice for most men.
And with a variety of button styles and cuff shapes they provide some versatile options
while still being practical.
Link cuffs have holes on both sides of the cuff and as you might imagine are meant to
be closed with links as opposed to buttons.
There are two principal types of link cuffs.
Single cuffs which are just one layer of fabric fastened together with a link are standard
for the white tie dress code and are also acceptable for black-tie if not necessarily
standard at this point in time.
You can learn more about the white tie and black tie dress codes by checking out our
related videos on the subject here.
And also by picking up our PDF guides on these dress codes in the Fort Belvedere shop here.
Double cuffs on the other hand are twice as long and are worn folded back upon themselves.
They're the standard choice these days for the black tie dress code and are also a staple
of business wear.
If you haven't guessed it yet, double cuffs are more commonly known as French cuffs and
they're the subject of today's video.
First, to round out our summary though there are also a few other kinds of cuffs such as
convertible cuffs which can be closed with either a button or a link depending on how
you'd like to wear them.
And finally, you may also sometimes see a buttoned cuff that has excess fabric that
can be turned back upon itself.
This is known as a turn back cuff, cocktail cuff or sometimes a James Bond cuff.
All right with our summary of cuff styles out of the way, let's focus in now on French
cuffs starting with the details of their construction.
As we already mentioned, French cuffs feature a length of fabric that is folded back upon
itself and then fastened together with cufflinks, There are holes on both sides of the cuff
going through all the layers of fabric.
In other words, most French cuffs will typically have four holes in total to a cuff.
Some manufacturers however will include more holes on the inner portion of the cuff for
a total of six.
This was originally done so that if there was wear or staining on the edge of a cuff
a man could adjust it in the middle of the day without having to worry about looking
at that staining.
One such manufacturer to offer these six holed French cuffs is the British retailer Charles
Tyrwhitt.
As I'm a frequent wearer of their shirts and many of them are in my closet I'll use these
adjustable cuffs on jackets that I have where the sleeves aren't quite as long.
That way the cuffs won't come out from beneath the sleeves of the jacket when I'm moving
my arms around.
Some shirt makers may also include a button on the inside of the French cuff to make things
more secure and to make inserting links a little bit easier.
This button on the inside of the cuff isn't to be confused however with a gauntlet button
which is featured on some shirts a little bit further up the sleeve.
French cuffs can come in a number of shapes as can other cuff styles.
Straight edges are most common for French cuffs but you'll also see rounded edges, angled
edges or mitered edges.
Now that you know how they're built, here's a quick digression.
Just why are they called French cuffs anyway?
To answer that question we have to touch on the history of the double cuff.
Since at least the 16th century upper-class individuals used elegant ribbons to prevent
the ruffled ends of their shirt sleeves from coming open.
This practice of adorning the wrists with some sort of decoration continued throughout
the centuries.
And by the early 19th century, when the modern style of shirt was coming into its own, the
ruffles had been replaced with cuffs that were secured with links.
As an example, Alexandre Dumas 1844 novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, features the character
of Baron Danglars, a banker who wears ornate cufflinks with his double cuffed shirts.
One apocryphal story also claims that French cuffs got their start when Napoleon ordered
extra long sleeves for the shirts of the soldiers in his armies so that they could wipe their
noses on the ends of their sleeve and then fold their cuffs back.
There isn't any historical evidence to support this theory however so it's really just more
of a fun story.
Whatever the case the term French cuff didn't really come into popular usage until the style
immigrated to America.
In other words it may just be that calling it a French cuff made it sound a little bit
more exotic and special to American consumers.
And from then on the term stuck and it's the one that's most commonly used today.
So with all that said then, what are the guidelines for wearing French cuffs on your shirts?
The traditional view on this subject is that French cuffs should really only be worn in
more formal scenarios, such as if you're wearing black tie or if you're wearing a conventional
business suit and necktie.
Some will even argue that wearing French cuffs with a blazer or sport coat is a stretch.
However as standards of everyday dress have become more relaxed over the last half century
and within the last 10 to 15 years, we've seen a resurgence in an interest in menswear.
Some of these old style rules are able to be more freely bent now.
So even though some traditionalists might give you a little bit of a questioning look,
we believe that you can definitely pull off French cuffed shirts in more casual environments
than just black tie or white collar business suits.
As just a few examples of this fashion designer Tom Ford has worn French cuffs without a tie
for a number of years now.
And here at the Gentleman's Gazette, our founder Sven Raphael Schneider, estimates that he
wears French cuffed shirts around 75% of the time.
Also I personally am a big fan of smart casual styled French cuffed shirts and almost all
of my everyday shirts have French cuffs.
I believe that wearing them with some fun cufflinks to provide a breezy vibe is a great
way to show off a little bit of personal expression without being overpowering.
In fact a typical everyday ensemble for me is a French cuff shirt worn without anything
over the top of it in addition to a pair of slacks and shoes and so on.
If you wanted to really go to the nth degree with this you could even emulate Italians
who go for the sprezzatura style of dressing.
They'll wear French cuffed shirts unfastened over the ends of their jacket sleeves.
This is a little bit of an extreme look of course but we just wanted to make you aware
that the look is out there, so French cuffs are definitely more versatile than they used
to be.
With that said, there are a few tips you can follow to make sure that no matter how you're
wearing them they still look smart.
First of all it's always a good idea to show at least a little bit of cuff at the end of
whatever you're wearing.
Be that a suit jacket, a blazer, a sport coat or even a sweater.
You could shoot for keeping a quarter to a half inch of shirt sleeve visible at all times
under these types of garments just to make sure that people know that you intentionally
wore French cuffs.
Keep in mind though, that if you're wearing something with more constricted sleeves such
as a sweater you may want to orient the cuffs a little bit differently.
Where French cuffs are usually worn in the so called kissing style with the inside portions
of both sides of the cuff together, they can also be configured more similarly to a barrel
style and this is a convenient way to do it if you're wearing something like a sweater.
And of course, there are a wide variety of different kinds of cufflinks to go with your
French cuff shirts to suit the occasion.
You should aim for a balance between your own sense of personal style and the formality
of the environment you'll be in.
There are all kinds of metal cufflinks of course, in materials like gold, silver, platinum
and so on.
And at the other end of the spectrum there are simple fabric knot styles of cufflinks
also called silk knots that are definitely more casual.
In conclusion then, to answer the question of when it's appropriate to wear French cuff
shirts?
The short and simple answer is almost whenever you want with a few key exceptions.
As we said, just make sure that the French cuffs and their accompanying cufflinks don't
overpower or dominate the outfit you're wearing.
Use a little bit of discretion and you'll have a wide variety of situations where cufflinks
and French cuff shirts are appropriate.
So what's your personal opinion of French cuff shirts and how often do you wear them?
Also if you have any other styling tips related to French cuffs be sure to let us know in
the comment section below.
And as a reminder don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel and hit the little
bell icon so that these kinds of videos can come straight to your inbox.
In today's video I'm wearing a French cuff shirt underneath a sweater to illustrate the
principle that some of these more casual combinations can certainly be pulled off with French cuff
shirts.
The shirt itself which is from Charles Tyrwhitt, features a grid pattern of blue and red on
a white background.
If you'd like, it could be considered a nod to the French flag.
I'm wearing a pair of casual and compact cufflinks in red and silver so that they can fit more
easily under these slightly more constrictive sleeves
of the blue gray cardigan sweater that I'm wearing.
My trousers are plain navy blue, as are my socks.
And my shoes are plain toed Brown derby that pick up some of the red tones in the shirt
and the cufflinks.
If I were layering this shirt under a garment that had a little bit more room in the sleeves,
I would probably wear the cuffs in the conventional kissing style and would choose a different
pair of cufflinks.
Take for example, platinum plated sterling silver Eagle Claw cufflinks with carnelian
as the stone which are available in the Fort Belvedere shop here, along with a wide range
of other cufflinks and accessories.