Cufflinks & Studs

More About Cufflinks & Studs

Men’s cufflinks and shirt studs are the jewelry of formalwear, adding a refined finishing detail to tuxedo shirts, French cuffs, weddings, galas, black-tie events, prom, and other special occasions. From timeless black enamel and onyx to mother-of-pearl, crystal, silver-tone, gold-tone, and more distinctive designs, the right cufflink and stud set can quietly complete a classic tuxedo or add a little more personality to your formal look.

What Are Cufflinks & Shirt Studs?

Cufflinks and shirt studs are small formal accessories that serve two different purposes. Cufflinks fasten the cuffs of compatible dress or tuxedo shirts, while shirt studs replace visible buttons along the front of a stud-compatible tuxedo shirt.

They are most closely associated with traditional eveningwear, where these small details help create the clean, polished appearance expected with a tuxedo.

Browse our Tuxedo Shirts to find formal shirts designed to work with traditional tuxedo accessories.

What Do Cufflinks Do?

Cufflinks secure the cuffs of shirts designed without a conventional button closure, most notably French-cuff shirts. Instead of fastening the cuff with a sewn-on button, the cufflink passes through the aligned buttonholes and becomes a visible decorative element at the wrist.

This makes cufflinks both functional and ornamental. A restrained black, silver, onyx, or mother-of-pearl design can finish a traditional formal look without drawing attention away from the tuxedo itself.

What Are Shirt Studs?

Shirt studs are decorative fasteners used in place of ordinary visible buttons on compatible tuxedo shirts. They pass through specially designed buttonholes along the formal shirt front and create a cleaner, more elevated appearance beneath a tuxedo jacket.

Black enamel and onyx are classic choices, while mother-of-pearl, crystal, silver-tone, gold-tone, and other finishes give you additional ways to personalize the look.

Do You Need Both Cufflinks & Studs?

That depends on the shirt. If your tuxedo shirt has French cuffs, you need cufflinks to fasten them. If the front of the shirt is designed to accept removable studs, you can also use shirt studs in place of the visible buttons.

Some formal shirts allow you to wear the front either with or without studs. For example, BlackTie’s Richard and Charles tuxedo shirts use convertible front buttonholes, while their full French cuffs are designed to be worn with cufflinks.

Always check the details of the specific shirt rather than assuming every formal shirt uses the same construction.

How Many Cufflinks & Studs Do You Need?

A pair of cufflinks provides one fastener for each shirt cuff. The number of visible shirt studs depends on the construction of the tuxedo shirt, but formal stud sets commonly provide several matching pieces for the shirt front.

BlackTie’s current cufflink and stud sets are packaged as six-piece sets containing two cufflinks and four coordinating shirt studs, giving you a complete matching set in one presentation box.

Do All Tuxedo Shirts Accept Shirt Studs?

No. Stud compatibility depends on the construction of the individual shirt. Traditional formal shirts may include convertible or dedicated stud buttonholes, while other modern dress or formal shirts use conventional buttons and are not designed for removable studs.

If wearing studs is important to you, check the shirt description for stud-compatible or convertible front buttonholes before ordering.

French Cuffs & Cufflinks

French cuffs are one of the most traditional details of a tuxedo shirt. The cuff folds back on itself and has buttonholes rather than a built-in closure, so a cufflink is used to secure the layers together.

A small amount of shirt cuff should remain visible beneath the tuxedo jacket sleeve, allowing the cufflink to appear naturally without becoming the focal point of the entire outfit.

Can You Wear Cufflinks With a Regular Dress Shirt?

Only if the shirt cuff is constructed to accept them. French cuffs are specifically designed for cufflinks, while some convertible cuffs can be worn either with their built-in buttons or with cufflinks.

A standard barrel cuff without compatible buttonholes should be worn using its normal shirt buttons rather than forcing a cufflink into the cuff.

Browse our Dress & Tuxedo Shirts to compare different formal shirt constructions.

Can You Wear Cufflinks With a Suit?

Yes. Cufflinks are not limited to tuxedos. A suit can be worn with a French-cuff or compatible convertible-cuff dress shirt when you want a more polished or dressy appearance for a wedding, business event, formal dinner, ceremony, or special occasion.

Shirt studs, however, are much more closely associated with tuxedo shirts and traditional formal eveningwear.

Cufflinks & Studs for Black Tie

For traditional black tie, accessories should support the tuxedo rather than compete with it. Black, silver, onyx, and mother-of-pearl are all refined options that pair naturally with a white tuxedo shirt, black bow tie, black or midnight-blue tuxedo, and polished formal shoes.

A coordinated cufflink and stud set keeps the metal finish, shape, and decorative material consistent across the shirt.

Explore our men’s tuxedos, tuxedo shirts, and bow ties to build the rest of a traditional black-tie look.

Black Enamel Cufflinks & Studs

Black enamel is one of the easiest choices for formalwear because it creates a clean contrast against a white shirt while coordinating naturally with black tuxedo details and bow ties.

BlackTie offers enamel designs with both silver-tone and gold-tone settings, along with styles accented by rhinestones or crystal-like borders for a more decorative finish.

Black Onyx Cufflinks & Studs

Onyx provides a rich black surface with a more jewelry-inspired appearance than plain enamel. Depending on the design, onyx may be framed by polished silver-tone or gold-tone settings, concentric circles, faceted edges, feathered borders, or other decorative details.

A black onyx set is especially versatile with a classic tuxedo because it adds visual interest while remaining within the traditional black formalwear palette.

Mother-of-Pearl Cufflinks & Studs

Mother-of-pearl creates a lighter formal accessory with subtle natural variation and reflective depth. White mother-of-pearl works beautifully with crisp white formal shirts and can create a softer contrast than black enamel or onyx.

BlackTie currently offers mother-of-pearl options in both silver-tone and gold-tone settings, along with designs that combine mother-of-pearl and black onyx in the same piece.

Silver-Tone or Gold-Tone Cufflinks?

Both can work beautifully with formalwear. Silver-tone accessories create a cool, understated finish and are especially easy to coordinate with black, grey, navy, white, and other classic tuxedo colors.

Gold-tone accessories introduce more warmth and can coordinate naturally with gold watches, warm wedding palettes, ivory, burgundy, brown, green, and formalwear featuring gold details.

Neither metal is automatically more formal. The strongest choice is usually the one that works with the other visible metal details in the outfit.

Should Your Cufflinks Match Your Watch?

They do not need to match perfectly, but keeping visible metal finishes related can make the outfit feel more intentional. Silver-tone cufflinks naturally complement stainless steel and silver-tone watches, while gold-tone cufflinks can work well with gold or warmer metal details.

For traditional black tie, keep the watch and jewelry understated so the tuxedo remains the focus.

Should Your Cufflinks & Studs Match?

For a traditional formal look, matching cufflinks and studs is the simplest approach. A boxed set gives you the same material, finish, shape, and design at both the shirt front and cuffs.

Mixing unrelated cufflinks and studs can work in more expressive formalwear, but coordinated pieces generally create the cleaner appearance expected with classic black tie.

Cufflinks & Studs for Weddings

Cufflinks are a natural wedding accessory because they add a finishing detail without changing the primary color or style of the tuxedo. The groom and groomsmen can all wear the same set for consistency, or the groom can choose a different material or metal finish as a subtle way to distinguish his look.

Browse our Wedding Tuxedos and Groom Tuxedos to build the rest of the wedding formalwear.

Cufflinks as a Groom Detail

Because cufflinks are small and personal, they are an easy place for the groom to add individuality without disrupting the overall wedding-party look. A different stone, gold or silver setting, or more distinctive design can set the groom apart while the tuxedo, shirt, and bow tie remain coordinated with the groomsmen.

They also make a detail that is easy to capture in wedding photographs while the groom is getting dressed.

Cufflinks & Studs for Groomsmen

Matching cufflink and stud sets can create consistency across a black-tie wedding party, especially when everyone is wearing the same tuxedo shirt.

Boxed sets can also make practical groomsmen gifts because the accessories can be worn again with compatible formal shirts at future weddings, galas, dinners, and other events.

Cufflinks & Studs for Prom

Prom gives you more room to add personality to the smaller details. Classic black enamel or onyx works with almost any tuxedo, while gold-tone, crystal-accented, novelty, or more decorative designs can support a bolder prom look.

Browse our Prom & Homecoming collection for tuxedos, suits, dinner jackets, and other formalwear to complete the outfit.

Cufflinks & Studs for Galas & Special Events

Galas, charity events, formal dinners, black-tie weddings, and other evening occasions are natural settings for a classic cufflink and stud set. Black enamel, onyx, silver, and mother-of-pearl create refined options for traditional formalwear, while more decorative styles can work when the event allows greater individuality.

Explore our Galas & Special Events collection for additional evening formalwear.

Cufflinks With Dinner Jackets

A statement dinner jacket already brings color, pattern, or texture into the outfit, so understated cufflinks often provide the best balance. Black enamel, onyx, silver-tone, or simple mother-of-pearl can finish the shirt without competing with velvet, floral, paisley, white, ivory, metallic, or brightly colored jackets.

Browse our Dinner Jackets for formal jacket options to build around your shirt and jewelry.

How to Put On Cufflinks

Start with the shirt cuff opened and align the buttonholes on both sides. Pass the cufflink post through the aligned openings, then secure the backing or closure so the decorative face remains visible on the outside of the wrist.

With French cuffs, fold the cuff back first before aligning the openings. The exact closure can vary by cufflink design, so make sure the piece is fully secured before putting on the jacket.

How to Put Shirt Studs in a Tuxedo Shirt

On a stud-compatible tuxedo shirt, the studs replace the visible front buttons in the designated formal section of the shirt. Insert each stud through the compatible buttonholes and secure the shirt front just as the ordinary button would.

It is often easiest to install the studs before putting on the shirt, especially the lower studs that become harder to reach once the shirt is tucked into the trousers.

Do Shirt Studs Replace Every Shirt Button?

No. Studs are used only in the portion of the formal shirt front designed to accept them. Other shirt buttons remain in place, including buttons that are hidden below the waistband or otherwise outside the visible formal front.

Follow the construction of the individual tuxedo shirt rather than trying to replace every button with a stud.

How to Coordinate Cufflinks With the Rest of Your Tuxedo

Formal accessories look best when they share a consistent visual direction. If you’re wearing black enamel studs, a matching black enamel cufflink keeps the shirt cohesive. Silver or gold settings can then relate to a watch or other understated jewelry.

The bow tie, cummerbund or vest, pocket square, and shoes should support the same level of formality without every item needing to match literally.

Complete the look with our bow ties, cummerbunds, formal vests, pocket squares, and formal shoes.

A Complete Boxed Formalwear Set

BlackTie’s current cufflink and stud sets come boxed for convenient storage and include two cufflinks and four matching shirt studs. Keeping the pieces together between events makes it easier to have a complete coordinated set ready whenever formalwear is needed.

The boxed presentation also makes a cufflink and stud set a practical gift for a groom, groomsman, graduate, prom attendee, or anyone beginning to build a formal wardrobe.

Choose the Details That Finish the Tuxedo

Cufflinks and studs may be small compared with the tuxedo jacket, shirt, and trousers, but traditional formalwear is defined by details. The right set replaces ordinary closures with something more refined and gives the shirt a finished appearance that feels appropriate for the occasion.

Whether you prefer understated black enamel, classic onyx, luminous mother-of-pearl, silver-tone, gold-tone, crystal accents, or something more distinctive, choose a set that works with your shirt, complements the rest of the outfit, and adds exactly as much personality as you want the smallest details to carry.