I saw the trailer for the new James Bond film, Skyfall, again, and after having my mind blown yet again, I realized that there are 2 lessons we can learn from James Bond. First, if you want to make an impression, make sure your suits fit you. Take a cue from MI6’s finest and make sure your suits fit like a glove. You’ll look and feel better. If you don’t believe me, go watch the first 22 Bond films and count the number of women he gets with. And if you still don’t believe me, watch the 22 films again and count the number of women that shoot him looks that indicate they would like to get with him. It also helps if in addition to a razor sharp suit you have large biceps and chiseled abs. But if not, a tailored suit will do. Lesson numer 2, make sure you fix your cufflinks before you kill someone (2:16 in the trailer). If you kill your enemy with crooked cufflinks, then you allow him to steal your dignity, and allow him to die victorious. Keep those cufflinks in place. It doesn’t matter if the train is breaking off behind you, or if there are flames and explosions in front of you. Keeping those cufflinks in line is your top priority. Your dignity is at stake. So get yourself a sharp suit, and make sure every details is in place and maybe someday you will find yourself saving the world for the 23rd time.
Cigarette-lighter cufflinks. Give the lady a light and blow her away
Apparently, sometime between the 1960s and the present day, someone decided that cufflinks and French cuff shirts were to be considered “formal wear” only to be worn for formal occasions. This is a grievous stereotype. God gave women earrings, and He gave men cufflinks. Cufflinks are the smile on your outfit’s face. They can give an outfit personality and charm. Today, jewelry designers and fashion retailers still make wonderful and very creative cufflinks. They range from gold engravings of initials to creative wonders such as coins, and I even found a pair of sailboat cufflinks at Banana Republic. However, no pair of cufflinks are cooler than the ones that can be obtained from your father, grandfather, or possibly even your great-grandfather. I had the good fortune to be given a pair of gold cufflinks which belonged to my great-grandfather with his initials on them which he wore in the 30s. If you don’t have a French cuff shirt or a pair of cufflinks, I urge you to go your closest retailer and pick them up. Every high end fashion retailer will have them, but if you’re looking for a cheaper alternative, you can find them in Macy’s or I prefer to get mine from Perry Ellis. Wear them with a suit, wear them with a blazer, or find your own way to rock ‘em. I think it’s high time that men’s fashion enthusiasts recaptured the glamor of Frank Sinatra or Sean Connery as James Bond, or copped Don Draper’s look and started wearing cufflinks again.
If you don’t want to take my word for it, maybe you’ll listen to the words of Glenn O’Brien. GQ’s “Style Guy”. http://www.gq.com/video/gq-rules/2008/glenn-obrien-cufflink-recommendations
