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Initial research into this area of men's jewellery first suggested that cuff links began in the 17th century as purported by an article on the internet whose reproduction can be seen duplicated on many sites. However, repetition of the same doesn’t make it true and deeper searches found much more compelling sources of the true origin of cuff links, notably the aptly named book “Cuff Links” by Susan Jonas and Marilyn Nissenson and its respective review in the New York Times.
Whilst it is true that early art works show something resembling a cuff link on late 17th century European high brows like Louis XIV, the true cuff link is really a result of the evolution of the shirt sleeve, the French cuff and, in particular, the use of starch in Victorian times due to the formal appearance that it gave to the shirt.
The stiff, starched cuff did not lend itself to a simple button fastening but required a sturdier mechanism that was much more man for the job and, with new technology, mass production was available and it is from here that the cuff link, as we know it, evolved. The middle of the 19th century spawned a fashion in which nearly all men in the middle and upper classes wore cuff links.
30’s fashion icon, Duke of Windsor, was a devotee of cuff links, but also had a penchant for casual chic and, as a result, unintentionally helped the slump in cuff links that continued for a long, long time. Today, their popularity is assured with the desire of modern man for style that portrays individuality reflected in the many cuff link designs.
Cuff links have not always been a purely male domain: Marlene Dietrich wore cuff links, Jackie Kennedy Onassis had a set of gold cuff links made by Van Cleef & Arpels and many Victorian ladies also wore them.
References:
“Cuff Links” by Susan Jonas and Marilyn Nissenson
“Which Came First, Cuffs or Cuff Links?” by Mervyn Rothstein, New York Times, October 30, 1991
“Paul Flato, Jeweler to Stars On Screen and Off, Dies at 98” by Enid Nemy, New York Times, July 23, 1999.