LIVE 24-SEVEN
A BUY E R’ S GUIDE MORE FLASH THAN CASH:
THE JOY OF BUTLER & WILSON JEWELLERY
The mere mention of the name Butler & Wilson instantly conjures up images of deliciously sparkling gems and fantastically oversized rhinestones. For 40 years, Glasgow-born Simon Wilson has been at the helm of Butler & Wilson, the jewellery company of choice for film stars and princesses alike.
Butler & Wilson turned fake into chic and its jewellery has adorned the pages of Vogue for over four decades now. Big and bold, multi-coloured stones and diamanté were used by Wilson to make statement pieces, the kind of jewellery to fly in the face of the sedate or minimal. Colourful butterfly brooches and exotic flower necklaces that spread spectacularly across the neck or in stark contrast studded diamanté skulls and cute teddies, and not forgetting of course the famous giant diamanté spider, pinned to the shoulder of many black dresses. For over 40 years Butler & Wilson have been designing opulent, showy and grand jewellery which packs more flash for a lot less cash than its gem stone equivalent.
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Will Farmer is our antiques & collectors expert, he is well known for his resident work on the Antiques Roadshow, he has also written for the popular ‘Miller’s Antique Guide’. Those in the know will have also come across him at ‘Fieldings Auctioneers’. We are delighted that Will writes for Live 24-Seven, he brings with him a wealth of knowledge and expertise.
Wilson and his partner Nick Butler started life 40 years ago on an antique jewellery market stall in Antiquarius in London's King's Road. Three years later, they opened their famous shop on the Fulham Road and added their first original designs to their Art Deco Collection. By the end of the decade, the Butler & Wilson team had been asked to design the Christmas lights in Regent Street and within the next decade, they were commissioned to work with both Pirelli calendars and Georgio Armani.
Over the last 50 years, London’s Fulham Road has changed; shops, fashions and people have all come and gone, with one exception – Butler & Wilson. The iconic small store crammed with glitz as big as the Ritz endures, as busy as ever, attracting new generations of fashion editors and loyal customers from around the world to their bold and glamorous crystal jewels.
In 1972, Grace Coddington borrowed jewels for a fashion shoot with the model Ingrid Boulting; three months later, Butler & Wilson were featured over five pages of British Vogue and were inundated with customers. Since that time, Wilson’s dizzying array of original designs has been a regular fixture on the fashion pages from show-stopping diamante chokers to marcasite drop earrings inspired by Art-Deco pieces.
The Fulham Road shop became famous for its traffic-stopping billboards, which featured the most distinguished actresses and models. It wasn’t long
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BUYERS GUIDE BUT L ER & WI L SON
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