Link to Civilization : Accessories: A man of few words can still wear his heart on sleeve--or at least his cuff.
When the bottom line and the quickest route matter, how can a man find the time to attend to details, especially of the sartorial variety?
By keeping his accessories at hand.
With a renewed emphasis on tailoring, glamour and style, beepers are being replaced as the accessory of cachet by such long forgotten touches as cuff links. Those miniature accents have returned to the buttonless sleeve ends of those willing to take an extra second or two to slip on a set.
You may have spotted the increasing number of styles cropping up everywhere. No longer are aficionados resigned to a monogrammed flat head or a basic bar. There are renditions to fit every imaginable taste, interest and fantasy, and, like neckties, they can make a very individual and personal statement.
Cuff links “give a man countless choices and let him say a lot about himself without saying a word,” says Jo Ellen Qualls, spokeswoman for Tiffany & Co.
“Men who wear cuff links,” according to her observations, “exhibit an immense amount of confidence, are risk takers and are entrepreneurial in spirit.”
The rise in popularity of this classic accouterment has compelled the Tiffany boutique in South Coast Plaza to broaden its collection, even to include more sports motifs. There are soccer balls and bowling ball and pin, tennis rackets and golf tees in sterling silver or gold. Also find animals, a nut and bolt, a propeller and diamond studs among a nearly endless array, priced from $100 to $3,500.
Women have also been paying more note--but not for the men in their lives. Qualls says she has seen them go for Elsa Perreti’s beans or Paloma Picasso’s Xs, as well as those with unusual enamel treatments.
Dana Rosenberg of Neiman Marcus in Fashion Island Newport Beach attributes the crossover from menswear to women’s wardrobes to the emergence of French cuff shirts. Among the selection at Neiman Marcus for him and her, from $30 and up, is this season’s most unusual: cuff links that are a working timepiece by Tateossian for $110.
“We’re in a period when accessories are strong,” Rosenberg says. “They pull a look together for men and women and add a special something to their look in the evening and day.”
Thrift and vintage stores are a treasure-trove for the rare and reasonably priced. But if your time is too limited to go hunting, find the uncommon in the following places:
At the Metropolitan Museum of Art store in South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, a set patterned after a favored design from Medieval Spanish art coincides with an exhibit the museum developed. Here cuff links, from $25 to $595, are made from reproductions of ancient coins and symbols (such as a Chinese dragon) or crowned with semiprecious stones. For the whimsical, there is a moon for one sleeve and a sun for the other.
For those who appreciate tradition with a twist, David Rickey & Co in Costa Mesa offers several styles in metal or a range of colors or both (such as a sunburst with a red glassy middle) from Nancy & Rise, from $85 to $250.
