Cufflinks fasten a French cuff, a cuff with no buttons that folds back on itself and carries four buttonholes instead of two. Line the four holes up, push the cufflink through all of them from the outside, then turn the backing flat so it cannot slide out. It takes about ten seconds once you have done it once.
1Check you are wearing the right cuff
A French cuff, also called a double cuff, has no buttons. It is cut twice as long as an ordinary cuff and folds back on itself, which leaves four buttonholes stacked in two pairs. If your cuff has a button on one side and a single hole on the other, it is a button cuff and there is nothing for a cufflink to pass through.
2Fold the cuff back on itself
Fold the cuff outward at the seam so the two halves sit flat against one another and the four holes line up. Most people wear a kissing cuff, where the two edges face each other. A barrel cuff, where the halves overlap, sits flatter under a jacket sleeve but is far less common.
3Line up all four holes
Pinch the folded cuff between finger and thumb so the holes stack, and hold them there before the cufflink goes anywhere near. Chasing a moving buttonhole with a metal post is the only part of this that is genuinely awkward, and it disappears the moment you hold the cuff still.
4Push the cufflink through from the outside
Feed the post through all four holes, working from the outside of your wrist inward. The decorative face finishes on the outside where people can see it, and the backing finishes against your body. If the face has an orientation, check it is upright before you fasten it.
5Turn the backing flat
Pivot the whale-back lever or bullet back so it lies across the holes rather than pointing through them. That quarter turn is what stops the cufflink working loose over an evening. A fixed-back cufflink has nothing to turn and is secure as soon as it is seated.
6Check how it sits
Roughly half an inch of cuff should show beyond your jacket sleeve, and both cufflinks should sit at the same height. If the cuff gapes open, the shirt sleeve is too long rather than the cufflink being the wrong size.
XSREZ carries officially licensed cufflinks across the NFL, NCAA, MLB, NHL, MLS, Star Wars, Disney, Marvel, DC Comics and Harry Potter, alongside classic designs with no logo on them at all.
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