Yesterday my new shirt arrived from iTailor. It fits perfectly, the pattern is exquisite and, to my contentment, they have done something good with the cuffs.
I was in a constant quandary with cuffs. I wanted to have French cuffs so I can wear links and so they look brill with a suit jacket, as per the pic of Pete Townshend below. I like the straight front edge; a sharp line for maximum impact on the eye.
So recently I’ve been opting for the twin-button “barrel” cuffs. I quite like these. They’re elegant, but practical, going smoothly into the sleeves of a Harrington without complaint. For a bit of variation, you can select diagonal edges, which are a bit unusual and they still look quite good with suit jackets. But they don’t accommodate cufflinks at all.
It’s a conundrum. A riddle of sorts. Before now, I was convinced it was certainly the most significant thing that all Mods should be concerned about in the world today.
But on my new shirt: behold the single-button cuff with horizontal incision (yes, the orange thread was my idea).
This shouldn’t really need such a big reveal because it’s the most obvious thing ever, but I thought iTailor didn’t do this!
A single button to tie up the cuff for practical usage, with a second button for tight or loose fitting.
And, between those two buttons, a small horizontal hole cut in the fabric. For cufflinks of course.
I first saw this in use on an M&S shirt back in the day, it just seems so unusual now to see this convenient detail that I was over the moon and it’s got to be the best bit about this new shirt.
From now on, I all shirtmakers should do this by default. Fuck everything else, this is the answer.