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before Catherine Deneuve and Faye Dunaway found their way to the shop and were so taken by the jewellery that they appeared on Butler & Wilson's life-size billboards overlooking the Fulham Road, just for fun. In time other great names such as Jerry Hall and Bianca Jagger joined the ever-swelling ranks of celebrity fans happy to endorse their spectacular creations in return for a few choices pieces to add to their own collections.


Butler & Wilson are reliably the first port of call when a glamorous bit of sparkle is required. The company has provided jewellery for many TV shows including Strictly Come Dancing, Britain's Next Top Model and the X-factor, as well as celebrities such as Girls Aloud, Madonna and Kylie Minogue. During the 1980s, Diana, Princess of Wales would make regular visits to the store, often with only one bodyguard and try on various items, asking fellow customers (much to their shock and surprise) if they liked them!


WHY ARE THESE BITS OF COSTUME


JEWELLERY SO POPULAR? That’s simple, because they are beautifully made with wit, humour, flash and show! Not only that, they lend a lustre of vivacity to


ordinary people and ordinary clothes. The classic pieces such as the Dali eye, the red-lips crystalline brooches and lizard pendants that draped over the shoulder all had an old-


fashioned gaiety about them; they were throwbacks to the Jazz Age and the flapper decade, not just their Art-Deco designs, but their love of paste diamonds and resplendent fakery for its own sake.


Some people raised an eyebrow about B&W's stuff. In the 1970s they called it tat, in the 1980s kitsch, in the 1990s bling. To old-fashioned tastes, costume jewellery was a cheap and tacky alternative to the real thing; the equivalent of scent rather than perfume. But after Butler & Wilson's success, nobody apologises any more for buying or wearing it. Much of the timeless appeal of Butler & Wilson is because they create small quantities of original pieces, often injected with whimsy, in a continuous stream of sparkle. There’s always something new, something fresh.


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So, while diamonds are clearly a girl’s best friend, what’s not to love about a little paste too and this Christmas why not join the endless list of Butler and Wilson fans who know the joy of costume jewellery…and as they say… go big or go home!


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BUYERS GUIDE BUT L ER & WI L SON


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