Last season, during  fashion’s night out, Kristen and I went all around the city checking out the hottest events the night had to offer. We absolutely had to head over to Alexis Bittar in SoHo where the jewelry designer co-hosted a party with Vogue senior accessories editor Selby Drummond, Rent the Runway’s Lucy Sykes and international style icon Lady Fag.

The crowd at the party was very fashionable with lots of drag queens, fashionistas and Svedka.  Alexis Bittar was inspired by his upbringing surrounded by antique jewelry. He began to design his own line of jewelry in 1988, using Lucite and semi-precious stones and metals. Bittar created two different collections and began selling his handmade pieces on the streets of Soho. In 1992, Dawn Mello, the fashion director of Bergdorf-Goodman discovered Bittar’s work and a year later, Bittar also began a relationship with Saks Fifth Avenue. In the following years, Bittar began to sell his collection in stores across the United States, as well as Harrod’s in London.

While at the soiree, I interviewed Alexis Bittar about his work and industry trends. Check it out after the break.

Video: Since the audio is hard to hear, I’ve also included a transcription:

AK: Hi, I’m AK-47 with Social Vixen.com and I’m here with–

AB: Alexsis Bittar

AK: A lot of jewelry designers use more conventional materials in their designs; you use a lot of Lucite. Can you tell us why you decided to start using Lucite?

AB: I started designing with Lucite over 20 years ago, and it was a material that I could sculpt and manipulate, I really liked the way they used it in the 30’ and I really wanted to revolutionize the way it’s used.

AK: That’s great; can you talk about some of the celebrities that have worn your work?

AB: Umm, we’ve kind of cover the gamut; we’ve been on everyone from Rihanna to Lady GaGa, Cameron Diaz, Alicia Keys, Michelle Obama, and even Madeline Albright. So we just keep going—

AK: That’s awesome; can you just talk a little bit about the trends that are going on in jewelry and fashion in general?

AB: I think over the years you see people having more and more fun with jewelry—so during the years of minimalism in the 90s—I feel like people got sick and tired of that—and really just letting loose and having a blast

AK: Alright, well thank you so much, Alexis,

AB: Thank you

 www.AlexisBittar.com