Cufflinks: A Half-Inch of Personality

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...  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.

Loyal Fans

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

I know there are plenty of other cool ideas for cufflinks. Tell me about them in the comments!