Which Came First Cuffs Or Cufflinks?

PRLog (Press Release) – Mar 18, 2008 – The ancient Chinese didn't wear shirts as we know them, And though cuff links were worn by a few elegant Europeans in the late 17th century and in the 18th century, they are really a byproduct of 19th-century mass production, a byproduct of shirt design. By the 19th century the bourgeois and working classes were large enough to sustain a demand for a manufactured product.
The evolution of cuff links, therefore, was determined by the history of the shirt. Men have worn shirt like garments since woven fabric was invented in the fifth millennium B.C. But for most of history, the shirt has been considered an undergarment, worn next to the skin to prevent outer garments from being soiled by close contact with the body. Public exposure of the shirt sleeves was for a long time considered a gross breach of etiquette.
It wasn't until the early 1500's that tiny ruffles, the first ancestors of cuffs, began to appear at the wristbands. As these evolved, men would put strings or narrow ribbons through holes in the wristbands to keep their sleeves closed.
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It took men a long time to connect their wristbands with jewelry. Louis XIV, for instance, loved jewelry; he had one matched set of 104 diamond buttons and 48 diamond studs. But he still had strings in his sleeves.
In the last years of Louis's reign, Ms. Nissenson said, some of the more fashionable men began to use pairs of identical or similar buttons, joined by a little chain, to fasten their sleeves. In 18th-century Europe, the buttons often contained painted miniatures, including portraits of loved ones or well-known figures.
In the mid-19th century, the modern shirt-sleeve cuff evolved.
Starch was popular because it heightened the formality of dress the Victorians loved. So the manufacturers vied to create a sleeve fastener that was easier to use than a button. The answer was usually a metal chain or link fastener -- the cuff link.
From the mid-19th century on, almost everyone in the middle and upper classes wore cuff links. Very few shirts were made with an attached button.
It was the Duke of Windsor, a devotee of cuff links, who unwittingly helped bring about their decline. The Duke greatly influenced male fashion, Ms. Jonas said, and part of his legacy was casualness. By the 1920's, the sport shirt had been created and with the return of the unstarched cuff, the links were no longer necessary. In the United States, at least, cuff links became associated largely with formal wear, both for evening and business.
The nut-and-bolt cuff links were created by the 1930's designer Paul Flato. Two brass nuts and bolts and put them in cuffs. So the nut and bolt cufflinks were created.