How and When To Wear French Cuffs

Today I want to spend just a few minutes to talk about French cuff shirts. We’ll get into some different occasions where you might consider wearing one, and I’ll show you a few different types of cuff links you can use as well.

So, first up. Let’s talk about the most popular types of cuffs you’ll find on your typical dress shirts these days. The first, and most common, is the barrel cuff. This is your standard sleeve cuff that incorporates sewn on buttons to keep the cuff closed around your wrist. You can have any number of button configurations here, but for the most part, you’ll either find one single button, or two buttons. The two buttons are to help with adjustability around your wrist. For example, on my right sleeve, I usually have the inside button fastened to keep the sleeve somewhat tight around my wrist, but then on my left hand, I usually have it on the first button because I’m wearing a watch and I want the sleeve to be able to easily slide over the watch as I move around.

The next type of cuff you’re likely to see is the link-style cuff. This is very similar to the barrel cuff, but instead of having a overlapping button closure, the two open ends of the cuff meet and a cuff link is used to fasten it together. Some link style cuffs will even come with sewn on buttons so you can have the option of utilizing the buttons, or utilizing a cuff link.
The next style is the most formal and it’s the double cuff or French cuff. This is where extra fabric is used to extend the sleeve length and then it’s folded over on itself to form the double cuff or French cuff. These were traditionally and still are the go-to choice for formal black-tie, but there’s been a resurgence in French cuffs for business wear and even semi formal and business casual as well. The rules have changed and really, you can wear a French cuff shirt in just about any situation where you would normally wear a regular barrel cuff dress shirt. And the cool thing is that you’ll stand out in a very subtle way from everybody else.
The shirts I’m wearing in the video, the cuff links, and a few other accessories I’m going to show you are coming from today’s sponsor John Henric. I’ve shown you guys John Henric before and told you how incredibly impressed I am with their shirts and sweaters. These guys absolutely want to make a difference in menswear made with better quality, craftsmanship and creativity. John Henrik products are sold all over the globe and this shirt would probably be twice the price if it was sold at Nordstrom. Their pieces are extremely high-quality and also super affordable because they sell direct to you. They’ve got new drops all the time and 12 collections yearly. The great thing about their creativity and working with smaller family owned European manufacturers, is they can be more nimble and create new collections in small quantities very quickly.

They also do free express worldwide shipping in 1 to 2 days. So listen, they’re offering this audience a sweet discount of 30% off everything using this code: GALFANO30 and this link. So if you’re interested in picking up any of their clothing or accessories for yourself or as a gift, I highly encourage you to go check them out.

The cool thing, at least in my opinion about French cuff shirts being worn more casually, is you can get them in lots of different colors and patterns that are less formal. For me, I have solid white and solid blue because I believe that’s the most versatile, but you don’t have to stick with solid colors if you don’t want to. So let’s get into a few of the most common types of cuff links you’ll see on the market today.

First we have the solid style cuff link. This version has no moving parts and it will usually incorporate more decorative elements on both ends. These are considered to be the most formal style and one end will be smaller than the other end. The large end, no matter what the cuff link is, always faces outward. I’ve seen it too many times at weddings where groomsmen have their cuff links on backwards. The large end always faces outward.
Next we have the T-bar style cuff link. This will be the most common and is also one of the easiest to put on. For me personally, I wear a lot more silver than I do gold, but when I wear my fathers old watch, I’ll pair it up with these gold cuff links. If you’re like me and have more silver watches, grab yourself some silver cuff links and wear them together.
The next style is the silk knot cuff link. These will be the most casual and usually don’t have a front side or backside. You just insert one and through the holes and that’s it. They’re a lot less flashy and they come in tons of different colors so it’s really easy to match with whatever colors you’re wearing that day.
And, gentlemen, one more thing. When you’re on the John Henric website, take a look through all of the men’s accessories that they’ve got. They have an amazing assortment of bow ties, belts, lapel pins, cuff links, pocket squares, suspenders, wallets, neckties, toiletry bags along with a bunch of other really cool stuff. And don’t forget to use the special link and code to get your discount.