The stock market swings up and down, but fashion never fluctuates in corporate America. Every weekday in most big city offices, you’ll find a workforce dressed all 
alike, in business suits in a variety of colors ranging from gray to navy, white shirts, and ties. Oh yeah, there’s an occasional skirt, in most cases worn by women. The guys all have close-cropped hair or none at all. On “casual Friday”, the suits are traded in for identical polo shirts and dress khakis, which may be cooler, but no more individual than the suits. This regimented fashion leaves little room for individuality. Two tiny spots that allows a man to show a bit of his personality are his cufflinks.
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Once upon a time, cufflinks were plain metal, embossed with initials, or jeweled. Today they fill a need for something, anything to make a man look different from the ten other men he works with, without offending the powers-that-be. Here are just a few ways jewelers and artists are filling that need.
Steampunk
The latest retro revival goes by the name steampunk, celebrating the Victorian Age when the Industrial Revolution was gearing up and inventions were developed or dreamed up. Etsy seller Rivkasmom makes these steampunk cufflinks (shown) out of watch gears and miniature Italian paintings. Here’s another style of cufflinks made from vintage watch parts. Another company specializes in jewelry made from watch parts. In fact, the inspiration for this post came from someone who wrote and said that they had the only cufflinks made from watch parts. I knew better. Cufflinks made from genuine typewriter keys are another classic vintage expression.
Pop Culture
Is this whimsical or intimidating? Darth Vader cufflinks send a message of some sort…Â either the wearer is out to conquer the galaxy, or he’s a nerd inside. You may prefer stormtrooper cufflinks. If you identify more with the Jedi, check out the starfighter cufflinks.
What could symbolize the world of high finance better than Monopoly game pieces? Here are cufflinks that feature the scottie and the top hat, or the thimble and the iron. Or try cufflinks featuring Monopoly hotels. Monopoly is not the only game in town. Cufflinks are available made of Scrabble tiles, Dungeons and Dragons 20-sided dice, and Lego bricks.
Loyal Fans
Cufflinks that feature your favorite sports team have been popular for years. Most teams’ logos are available on cufflinks. A more subtle yet personal way to revere your team is by wearing an actual, physical part of the sport, like cufflinks made from Yankee Stadium seats. OK, you can get cufflinks made from half the ballparks in America, since even if they use the same stadium for decades, they will buy new seats occasionally. If you’d rather show your loyalty to more than one team, or just your hometown, how about tokens? Get cufflinks made from NYC subway tokens (yes, subways once used coins and metal tokens). Or you may prefer tokens from Chicago or Los Angeles.
Special Occasion
Well, this is clever. These wedding cufflinks are made from a dollar. What’s so clever about that? One link shows Washington’s eye. The other uses the first two letters of the word “dollar”. Together, they spell “I do.”
Geek
Reveal your immersion in the world of tech with cufflinks made from pieces of parts of things you understand and impress people who don’t. Shown are cufflinks made from recycled circuit boards. You can get cufflinks made from real 25 MHz oscillators. Even non-geeks will relate to and respect your cufflinks made of computer keys, or metal resembling computer keys. Here are some more geeky cufflinks.
Political
Oh, you’d better believe that political campaigns have cufflinks available! Choose John McCain cufflinks or Barack Obama cufflinks to show who you favor in the current presidential race. Or go out in “left” field with Chairman Mao cufflinks. Or go retro, with cufflinks made from old campaign buttons.
I know there are plenty of other cool ideas for cufflinks. Tell me about them in the comments!
Comments (15)
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OMG! You just inspired me. My husband LOVES cufflinks but I’ve never given him any that were extra special.
I’m definately on the hunt for the perfect cuff link for Christmas. Thanks!
posted by Karen on 10-2-2008 at 8:08 am
Harry Rosen (I’m from Canada, where Harry Rosen is a major chain of high end menswear shops), was famous for never wearing matching cufflinks.
posted by Angeline on 10-2-2008 at 9:51 am
The only time in my life I ever wore cufflinks was my brother’s wedding, but this article makes me want to wear them every day! Except I don’t wear a suit to work, and cufflinks don’t quite fit with my company’s “business (very) casual” dress code.
posted by Craig on 10-2-2008 at 10:14 am
I found a place that sold “blank” cufflinks and made two pairs. One is made with .308 bullets and the other I made from human teeth I got from a buddy in dental school. The fun part about wearing the teeth is when people ask you who they came from, and I get to turn to them with a sinister grin and say, “I don’t know, I never got a name.” Which is true, I DON’T know where they came from.
posted by Jim on 10-2-2008 at 10:18 am
Never mind cuff links made from watch parts. I’ve got a pair that has an actual working watch on one. Got them from my grandfather (who was quite dapper) and wore them on my wedding day. I showed them to my son a while ago and he thought it was funny that you had to wind the watch!
posted by tpal on 10-2-2008 at 11:52 am
I’m with Karen, these will be great for my husband. I checked out all of the links above, but absolutely LOVED the ones on watch-cufflinks.com. I’ve never seen anything quite like them, and with an enormous variety too!
Holidays are coming fast – this will take away at least ONE stress factor!
posted by Moon Flower on 10-2-2008 at 2:24 pm
For my fiance’s first birthday after we started dating I gave him mercury dime cuff links. Hardly ever has an occasion to wear them, but he loved ‘em. Going to wear them at our wedding next year.
posted by Bug on 10-2-2008 at 7:00 pm
“the only cufflinks made from watch parts”
LOL! That’s a good one! I gave a pair of watch part cufflinks from Rivkasmom to my husband for his birthday, and he loves them.
posted by SarahPesha on 10-3-2008 at 4:06 am
LOL at Moon Flower! Hey Ricky, if you’re going to shill for your own website, at least you could take the link out of your signature so it’s not so obvious that you’re talking about yourself. Tacky, tacky.
posted by Carlie on 10-3-2008 at 4:13 am
Wow! I’ve been seeing a lot of boring steampunk stuff lately, but those cufflinks with the paper behind them are really cool.
posted by BobMarley on 10-3-2008 at 4:27 am
I have to say, if your husband/father/son/brother works in a professional environment of any kind, then cufflinks are the perfect gift. And you can keep giving them since the more the variety the better. And it seems that now they have so many more styles available than they did years ago, as evidenced by this story.
posted by Brenda on 10-3-2008 at 4:38 pm
Ladies! I hope you’re taking notes for the holidays!
posted by Doug on 10-3-2008 at 4:41 pm
I don’t wear cufflinks. I don’t even have frenchg cuff shirts. I do like star wars though. I might just have to go buy a shirt.
posted by didgeridoo on 10-3-2008 at 4:48 pm
Quirky, perhaps even on the edge of nerdy, but still with a sense of flair and style. I have to say, Miss Cellenia, nice post.
posted by quickwit on 10-3-2008 at 5:11 pm
Thanks for the link to my Chairman Mao cufflinks! These are vintage Chairman Mao badges from the 1960′s that have been converted into cufflinks. I always have comments and interesting conversations with people who see Chairman Mao on my sleeve!
posted by Dwight on 10-10-2008 at 8:37 pm