Alexis Bittar‘s expertly-crafted jewelry is nothing if not unique. The time and care put into each piece is evident just by looking at them (or reading the paragraph-long descriptions on his website). The same cannot be said of the Kardashians’ design oeuvre.

So we were not exactly shocked this morning when we read that Alexis Bittar is accusing Kim Kardashian, to whom he has loaned out jewelry on multiple occasions, of copying his designs for her Belle Noel jewelry line. (It wouldn’t be the first time.) He tells the Post,

In the reality TV world, there are so many people coming out with lines to capitalize on their TV shows. They are not designers and they are just stealing. I passed the Dash pop up store on Broadway, and I saw that Kim’s pieces were very similar to mine, and she definitely has been taking note (of my designs). The tricky thing is that we have sent pieces to Kim in the past to wear, so now I have told my staff we cannot send anything to her. She was definitely influenced by my designs without a doubt.

Was she? Of course, it’s hard to prove. The CFDA/Swarovski Award winner notes,

You have to be very careful to pick and choose your battles. I haven’t talked to Kim about it, the truth is she might not even know. She might be so far removed from it (the design process), and her designers just go shopping and knock things off. But we are definitely not lending to Kim any more, she has been barred.

Kardashian’s Kamp disputes Bittar’s accusations, saying, “Kim is constantly inspired by her travels which she incorporates into her designs. She hasn’t ever noted any inspiration from Alexis Bittar’s pieces so any similarity in design is purely coincidental.” The overall aesthetic of Kim’s line is pretty similar to Bittar’s. However, the detail and craftsmanship in Kim’s designs are much less (of course, so are the prices).

After examining both designers’ collections, it’s hard to find anything that could be called an exact copy, so a Bittar vs. Kardashian lawsuit seems unlikely. Still, there are definitely some similarities. Click through for some examples and you be the judge! (Alexis Bittar left, Belle Noel right)

Photos: Shopbop, Bloomingdale’s and Alexis Bittar