This page is going to be a bit of a hodgepodge of description and images containing miscellaneous pieces of advice or explanation.
Cufflinks and Cuffs
These decorative bits of metal are a lovely way to add some flair to your outfit, and are usually considered the more formal option: and de rigeur for Black and White Tie. They replace buttons on the cuffs of your shirt (therefore the shirt has to be made to accept them) and keep the two halves of your sleeves together.
Double (or French) cuffs, so called because they ‘double back’ on themselves, and single cuffs are the only types of cuff you are likely to see that will take cufflinks. Conveniently the above image is also ordered left to right in ascending order of formality: single cuffs are the most proper option for White Tie.
With ‘chain’ cufflinks, you will need to pass one end of the cufflink through every layer of cuff; this is often finicky with a double cuff. With ‘bar’ cufflinks, the bar rotates into a perpendicular position to allow you to do so more easily: at the cost of an asymmetrical cufflink. As ever, aesthetics and practicality are often in opposition.
Some shirts have cuffs that are designed to accept both buttons and cufflinks. These may seem useful, but you will be conscious of the buttons every time you wear them with cufflinks instead. Avoid, unless in a pinch.
Shirt Studs
Shirt studs perform a similar service for shirts as cufflinks do for cuffs.
Some shirt studs unscrew so that you can push the stem up through your shirt before screwing the stud back on. Others are cast as one piece and so you will need to push the stud through your shirt front every time.
Either way, the most important thing is to be gentle and thus prevent the shirt openings from fraying or widening unduly: this causes you to lose studs as they slip out and is most inconvenient.
Lapel Pins
Lapel pins usually advertise something, whether membership of a club or a college, a cause you support, or something you identify with. A small and discreet pin with a good ‘story’ behind it is worth having. Few others are.
Avoid a random lapel pin ‘just for the sake of having one’: this can be pulled off by very few. Also avoid over-large pins that take up most of your lapel: in my experience they draw far too much attention and mark you out as someone who hasn’t learnt how to dress properly yet. And never more than one, unless you’re making a statement.
Shirt Collars
Grabbing a sample of white shirts from my wardrobe, here are several of the common collar types you’ll see or be buying.
Wing Collar
Perhaps the most primitive of the commonly-worn collars, as collars basically originate as bands of cloth sticking straight up that cover the neck (the wing is therefore the bending down of the ‘tips’ of this band of cloth), the wing is compulsory with White Tie and an option for Black Tie. If in a plain cloth instead of the marcella (pique pattern) seen here, it can also be worn with day clothes if you’re feeling particularly antique.
Club Collar
Said to have been invented at Eton by rounding off the points of a double collar, this is an interesting alternative to the usual double collar.
Turndown (Double) Collar
The turndown, otherwise known as a double, collar is probably better thought of as a whole class of collars. However, the one I’ve marked as a ‘Turndown (Double) Standard’ is probably the default for most manufacturers: a medium sized ‘spread’, and pointy tips.
Pay attention to the ‘spread’, the distance between the collar tips. Some say that a wider spread matches a wide face, while a narrow spread matches a narrow face. What is certainly true is that tie knots should be matched to collar spread: standard or narrower collar (such as the one on the left) would suit a smaller knot such as Four-in-Hand knot, whereas a wide collar (such as the one on the right) would suit a wide knot such as a Windsor knot. The effect is slight, but discernable:
Waistcoats
Unless you’re intentionally wearing a suit (which is more formal than mixing-and-matching), a waistcoat need not match your jacket or trousers. Indeed, an ‘odd’ waistcoat in green or burgundy moleskin can be a colourful addition to set off almost any suit.
That being said, do not succumb to the temptation of wearing a waistcoat without a suit. You either look like you’ve lost your jacket, or a waiter.