The 17th century witnessed the birth of the twin as an official symbol of fashion, social prestige and luxury. At that time, everyone in the Western world fastened their shirt sleeves with ordinary ribbons or strings. The first pieces of cufflinks were made as fairly simple buttons, linked together by a short chain, and were made of glass. A century later, a new jewelry material was introduced: glass paste, which was often used to form small gems.
Another century and cufflinks became an integral part of men’s accessories. New production techniques were also introduced. Electroplating and electrometallurgy allowed more freedom for elaborate designs in gold and silver. These techniques also allowed for the mass production of cufflinks making them available to the masses. Cufflinks were once accessories of wealthy people, but the 19th century made cufflinks accessible to the ever-growing bourgeoisie. Cheaper materials such as metal alloys and imitation jewelery were used to create cheaper cufflinks. During the 1860s, famous jewelers such as Child & Child in London and Krementz & Company in New York modified their practice, targeting the masses and the middle class as their market for cufflinks. They sold each pair at a fair price that anyone could afford.
The French-cuff, or double-cuff, shirt became a fancy dress for men in the 1840s. This trend produced an increased demand for cufflinks. In 1887, Tiffany, Cartier and Faberge, all famous jewelry designers of that time, spontaneously invested in this trend and began designing different cufflink designs to suit different occasions and moods. Different materials were used. Gold, mother-of-pearl, enamel, mosaics and other precious stones were used. These prestigious jewelers were then creating works of art that can be worn by men. Since then, the shirts that have been produced have included cut-outs and buttonholes that provide a function and not just an accessory for the cufflinks.
The test of what cufflinks can do was intensified when the trend took a slightly different turn when people began wearing cufflinks with a lock of a loved one’s hair placed under a cufflink glass to indicate mourning. Cufflink personalization also began when men had their initials and abstract art prints inscribed on them. These pieces of jewelry were also used as gifts, especially for royalty and the elite. Cufflinks then began to become a major element of art movements, and with that, fashion soon followed. Or maybe the other way around. Whichever came first, it was evident that the Art Deco movement during the 1920s and 1930s began to display lilies, profiles of women, and garlands that were adorned on the front of cufflinks. Eventually, major fashion forwards like Cartier, Chaumet, Mellerio, and Boucheron followed this trend and produced more Art Deco-inspired cufflinks.
Also during the 1920s, the Boyer company introduced the first rolling button, or rod-type cufflink system. This type of cufflinks is still used today. They also produced art-inspired tie clips and cufflinks made of enamel that took the men’s accessory a step further. And then another big step was taken for cufflinks when women began wearing them during the early years of the 20th century. The freedom and vitality given to women allowed them to participate in the cufflink industry, adorning their sleeves with fashion accessories previously acclimated to men.
A low point for the cufflink trade came in the early 20th century, when shirt companies began mass-producing shirts that already had button cuffs. This low point further challenged cufflink makers to create more elegant, classy and rare cufflinks. Then the cufflinks began to acquire a different image: a man wearing them is the quintessence of business and evening style. Van Cleef & Arpels began to invent designs, the channel setting, where stones are the main designs but no metal support is visible. These are by far the most jeweled cufflinks still in production to this day.
The rock and roll trend during the Beatles era inspired the cufflinks that were made available in the market. Cartier exclusively produces heart-shaped cufflinks, Bulgari perfected diamond heart-shaped cufflinks with blue enamel backgrounds, David Webb drew miniature animal designs, and Dinh Van brought a “zen” image to the industry. Every design you can think of was inscribed on cufflinks. The options were endless.
You can visit a Twin Museum in Conway, New Hampshire. It shows the multicolored history of twins and features 50,000 pairs of twins from 212 countries around the world. It has been by far the most prominent twin museum in the world. Tourists, historians and connoisseurs of twins can follow the evolution of twins over the centuries with the rise of technology, art, music and fashion at this museum.
Whatever the purpose – displaying individual style, soaking up elegance, or simply showcasing your own personality – you can definitely find a cufflink that best suits your needs. It is given: cufflinks are always, and always will be, the most indispensable wrist accessory for men who will embellish more sleeves for more generations to come.