French cuff shirt with knotted cufflinks - fussy or elegant?

During the Brooks Brothers half off sale I ordered a couple of their non-iron shirts. I have one of their shirts in "fitted" fit /magenta color that I love - stays nice and crisp all day long, and the color is quite bright. I ordered two light blue shirts, one in tailored fit and one in fitted. The tailored fit shirt just went back - it is too tight for me. The fitted shirt fits great; I am not 100% sold on the blue color - it is fairly pale so I am not sure if it might wash me out. I could also exchange it for a white, which might be even nicer. The shirt has French cuffs with white knotted cufflinks - the best image I can find is this one http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/br.....rt/3175584 where it is possible to zoom in on the cuff or the one I attached (except on the blue shirt the knots are white). What is your take on these? Fussy, old-fashioned, or interesting?

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10 years ago

Diana

Veteran

I like them. I am biased though because this is how my husband usually wears his french cuffed shirts when he wears them to work, and I like it a lot. It's a little old-fashioned but in a cool, vintagey sort of way. Metal cufflinks are impractical if you are working at a computer because they bang on things.

ETA: It's very accepted in menswear circles, I think. At least my husband says that most french cuff shirts are sold with this type of cufflinks.

carambola

All of the above. I love the look and find them elegant and interesting, but on me they feel a tad fussy because I like to be able to adjust my sleeves quickly throughout the day, scrunching and rebuttoning whenever I get too hot or cold and I haven't figured out how to do that with these.

minimalist

I always thought of the knotted links that come with shirts as placeholders. There are so many fun cufflinks, from vintage to steampunk to femme. Diana's right about being aware of practicality when choosing cufflinks, though.

But these knots are sold in various colors, so clearly for plenty of people they're viable.

Isis

I love French cuffs and links, although I do not own any at the moment…..but can you scrunch the sleeves with this kind of cuff?

deb

Elegant. I have always loved them.

Isis, in my experience French cuffs didn't stay scrunched. But y'know what? if you used links joined by elastic, there might be a way. [scratches head]

I've been guilty of *rolling* French cuffs. Don't ask. It's not a look you want to replicate.

French cuffs definitely accent your hands. That can work either way.

rachylou

French cuffs are the epitome of elegance. Always.

Hehe. So sayeth I.

Makrame

Yes, the scrunching/adjustment of the sleeves is problematic. I usually suffer from the "too-long sleeves" syndrome - I always get my jacket sleeves shortened and my shirt sleeves rolled up. I cannot roll up these cuffs (just does not work) but I think they could be sort scrunched up and look pretty good (not sure if they will stay that way for long).

I'd love to hear Angie's solution for scrunching these. Maybe invisible stitches?

Jacky

I absolutely love French cuffs. I've never tried rolling them up or scrunching them, so I can't speak to how they work in those cases, but I think they look elegant and interesting. I always love another excuse to add details to outfits!

Suz

(website)

I love French cuffs. You can scrunch them if they are closed and snug enough on your upper arm. But they're really meant to be worn down.

mushroom

Active Member

If you want to roll them, could you use this method?

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Gigi

I love French cuffs too.

Angie

Fashion Stylist

This shirt has cuffs and links and it stays scrunched. It has to do with the slim fit on the arm - slim fit equals better scrunch.

Beth

Elegant. Love the look, and Angie is rocking them perfectly (as usual).

Anonymous

I think they're a great "princely" detail. Best for wearing down though, which means they aren't super practical for my climate.

gryffin

French cuffs to me = drop dead elegant. ( on a tuxedo shirts too!!) Plus this is a chance to borrow from the guys and treat yourself to cufflinks. PS old button earring that you don't wear can easily be changed out to cufflinks by any jeweler. Just a thought!! I really like. Big thumbs up

alanharper

Member

Guy I recently got myself some cool cuffs from unicuffs.

They've got some crazy mismatched themed cufflinks. I got myself these http://goo.gl/RAxCNH

Just wanted to thank everyone for replying on this thread (and Angie for a great visual) - I was away at a conference and did not have a chance to respond to the comments. I am glad the French cuffs are getting thumbs up - I was very tempted to bring the new shirt with the French cuffs to the conference but did not have time to get it ready for travel (washed, dried, and packed).

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