Prada brings back a forgotten accessory

If anyone on the fashion scene deserves the status of a trendsetter, it is Prada. Ever since she began her fashion journey, Miuccia Prada has established herself as a visionary, a reputation she has reaffirmed season after season, whether through Prada’s fashion narratives or through the slightly more relaxed version of Prada’s “younger sister,” Miu Miu. The preppy Miu Miu aesthetic, with pleated miniskirts, knee socks, and polo shirts, has shaped trends to such an extent in recent seasons that Miu Miu girls have been one of the most common sights on the street style scene. That is just one of the reasons why we trust Prada when it brings a forgotten fashion item back to the runway, and during Milan Men’s Fashion Week it did exactly that with cufflinks.

What are cufflinks and what do they symbolize?

The clothing designed by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons for the autumn winter 2026 season was at times marked by creases in the fabric, discolorations, or stains that appear to have resulted from long periods of being stored, as if the garments had not been worn for a long time and were found in an attic, perhaps even belonging to someone else. It is therefore no surprise that among these relics of the past were accessories such as cufflinks, somewhat forgotten fashion details that once adorned gentlemen’s sleeves and symbolized status, refinement, a careful approach to dressing, and good style.

A short history of the cufflink

Before buttons, shirt cuffs were fastened with ribbons or ties, until the seventeenth century, when the first cufflinks appeared. As fashion styles evolved, shirts were given buttonholes, and tailors began fastening cuffs with two decorative buttons connected by a chain. They called them boutons de manchettes, or sleeve buttons, and since they were often made of gold, silver, and adorned with semi precious stones, cufflinks became a recognizable emblem of the upper social classes.

Cufflinks reached their peak in the second half of the nineteenth century, when they became even more elaborate and opulent, dominating men’s fashion until the twentieth century, when tailors began producing shirts with buttons already sewn onto the cuffs. Despite this, the elegant accessory remained part of formal dress and a symbol of the refinement that gentlemen liked to project through their sartorial choices. Although they were never completely forgotten, cufflinks became associated with older generations, those who carefully stored their clothes in the attic, likely unable to part with them. Alongside the masterful return of brooches, which we have been rediscovering in recent seasons and whose modern versions have taken over the runways, Prada has decided to do the same with cufflinks. We welcome this return.