Cufflink
A Cuff link (also cuff link or cuff-link) is a decorative fastener worn by men or women to fasten the two sides of the cuff on a dress shirt or blouse.
Cuff links are designed only for use with shirts which have buttonholes on both sides but no buttons. These may be either single or double-length ("French") cuffs, and may be worn either "kissing," with the ends pinched together, or "barrel-style," with one end overlapping the other. Kissing cuffs are usually preferred.
Cuff link designs vary widely. The simplest design consists of a short post or chain connecting two disc-shaped parts. The part positioned on the most visible side is usually larger; a variety of designs can connect the smaller piece: It may be small enough to fit through the button hole like a button would; it may be separated and attached from the other side; or it may have a portion that swivels on the central post, aligning with the post while the link is threaded through the button-hole and swiveling into a position at right angles to the post when worn.
The visible part of a cuff link is often monogrammed or decorated in some way. There are numerous styles including novelty cuff links, traditional cuff links, contemporary cuff links, utility cuff links, and humorous cuff links
Double-sided, Double-panel or Double-faced Cuff Links
Forerunner of today's shirt first appeared in the early-1500s, its ruffled wristband finished with small openings on either side that tied together with "cuff strings." Although cuff strings would remain popular well into the nineteenth century, it was during the lavishly gilded rule of Louis XIV - famed for the ostentatiously baroque Palace of Versailles - that French aristocrats realized their wristbands offered yet another opportunity to boastfully flaunt their wealth and status.
By the late-1600s, royalty and monied patricians throughout Europe were fastening their shirt sleeves with boutons de manchette, or "sleeve buttons," typically identical pairs of colored glass buttons joined together by a short, linked chain. Cuff strings, their low-brow predecessor, would remain a fashion staple of the poor until the mid-1850s.
By the end of Louis's post-Renaissance reign in 1715, simple, paste-glass buttons had given way to pairs of two, decoratively painted or jeweled studs, typically diamonds, connected by ornate gold links.
Hence was born the cuff "link" eponym. Whether simple glass buttons or the gilded and bejeweled studs favored by aristocrats, thank the short, chain-like link for their now universal sobriquet. With their generic name was also born the predecessor of today's "double-sided" cuff links, also known by their equally popular "double-panel" or "double-face" names. Over the next 300-years, the three pseudonyms would be swapped around synonymously and double-sided cuff links would win a vaunted status as one of fashion's iconic classics.
To this day, double-sided cuff links are the de rigueur fashion choice of the world's best dressed men and remain the emblematic standard bearer of sartorial elegance throughout the world, save for America which stands the lone exception.
"Dumbbell" or shank-style cuff links rocketed to fashion's forefront during the early-1900s. Then, as now, they enjoyed their greatest popularity in America. Thanks to their gently curved but rigid shank, dumbbell style cuff links deliver unrivaled ease of attachment and removal, a pragmatic asset in the context of Yankee ingenuity and America's no-nonsense man.
Like snaps and chain linked double-panel cuff links, dumbbell styles are coveted by a small niche of classic-minded, fashion connoisseurs.
"Double-sided cuff links communicate an unspoken but mutually recognized savior faire that Instantly identifies one connoisseur to another and their concern for attention paid to the smallest details. Among fashion's insiders, they signal a grasp of history and a mutually shared awareness of fashion protocol and sartorial decorum. Collectively, they distinguish the fashion savvy savant from the mediocrity of ‘masses-fashion,'" adds Stinson.
Despite remaining Europe's dominant cuff link design since the early-1700s and their continued embrace by the world's best dressed men, double-sided cuff links have virtually disappeared from America. Retail price is a major reason: Single-sided cuff links are about half the cost of double-sided cuff links. Added ease of insertion and fastening, then removal, are the other advantages single-sided cuff links offer.
Still, that only partly explains the American demise of double-sided cuff links, despite their flourishing throughout Europe.