Alexis Bittar Gets Fancy With Fine Jewelry Collection

I’ve been a fan of Alexis Bittar’s for quite a few years now. His designs are cool, different and a reasonable price range. The New York based designer experienced a huge surge in popularity years ago after his jewelry was often featured on Sex and the City. Holt Renfrew has a big selection of his work and you can easily find it on many shopping sites like saksfifthavenue.com, neimanmarcus.com and nordstrom.com. You can even purchase directly from alexisbittar.com. Bittar also now has stores in Manhattan, Connecticut, West Hollywood, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. His flagship stores are the best places to get his work because they carry editorial pieces that can’t be found online or in other boutiques or department stores.

Now that he’s basically a household name in the fashion industry, Bittar recently launched his first fine jewelry collection in October. It’s an interesting business venture because fine jewelry is a lot more expensive to produce than costume jewelry and because the price range is so much higher, you generally sell a lot less of it. However, having a fine jewelry collection does do one thing – it helps to rejuvenate a brand that some might say has become too main stream. It also helps re-establish Bittar as a serious jewelry designer willing to compete with some of the long standing fine jewelry designers based in New York.

Prices of the new collection range anywhere from $295 for the sterling silver Marquis Bangle to as high as $13,995 for the 18K gold Golden Ice Marquis Strand Necklace (made with yellow sapphires and diamonds) – and everywhere in between. The collection is a well done extension of his costume jewelry and has the same interesting and fun aesthetic Bittar has become known for.

Speaking of fancy, in 2010 the legendary Joan Collins stared in Bittar’s ad campaign. It was awesome. Alexis Carrington Colby would totally rock everything from his fine jewelry collection. She’s pretty much the fanciest.

Some of my favourite pieces are below. And you can read more about Alexis Bittar’s decision to enter the fine jewelry market here.