Jewellery

 Most men's accessories are pure decoration. A ring, a bracelet, a pocket square — they look good, and that's the entire job. The tie bar is the rare exception that actually earns its keep, because underneath the polish it's doing real work: holding your tie against your shirt so it stays put instead of swinging around every time you lean over a desk or a dinner table. That mix of useful and good-looking is exactly why it's worth owning one. Here's what you need to know to wear it properly. Clip, bar, tack: what's the difference? The names get thrown around interchangeably, but there are real distinctions worth knowing. A tie clip has a hinged, spring-loaded mechanism — you pinch it open and it clamps shut, like a small clothes peg. A tie bar, strictly speaking, is a straight bar that either slides onto the tie or grips it with simple tension, no hinge involved. In everyday use, most people call either one a "tie clip" or a "tie bar" and no...

 A chain is the most flexible piece of jewellery a man can own . It can carry a pendant or do the whole job by itself, and sit quietly under a shirt or anchor an entire outfit out in the open. But there are more types of chain — in more widths, qualities and price brackets — than almost any other accessory, and the differences are easy to miss until you're holding the wrong one. Here's what separates a good men's chain from a forgettable one, so you can buy with confidence instead of guessing. It's all in the link The single biggest decision is the link pattern, because it sets the character of the chain before anything else comes into play. The Cuban link (also called a curb chain) is the one most men picture — thick, interlocking, and slightly flattened so it lies flat against the skin. It's bold and hard-wearing, which is why it rules the heavier end of the market. The Figaro mixes things up with a repeating sequence of one long link followed by a few shorter...

 Cufflinks have a reputation problem. A lot of guys file them under "fussy" — something reserved for grooms, butlers, and men who own more than one tuxedo. That's a shame, because a pair of cuff links is one of the easiest ways to make an ordinary shirt look deliberate, and they're nowhere near as complicated as their formal reputation suggests. Here's everything you actually need to know to start wearing them, minus the snobbery. First, you need the right shirt This trips people up immediately. Regular shirts have buttons on the cuffs, and cufflinks won't help you there. What you want is a French cuff shirt, also called a double cuff. The fabric at the wrist is extra long and folds back on itself, leaving two holes that line up — and that gap is exactly what a cufflink threads through to hold the cuff closed. There's also the single cuff with holes, which some dress shirts offer, but the French cuff is the classic. If you're buying a shirt specifical...