Jewelry designer Alexis Bittar was strolling past the Dash store the other day — probably to gawk at all the people who still inexplicably queue up on the sidewalk and wait for the doorman to grant them admittance to spend $10 on water bottles — when he noticed something fishy. He tells the Post:

I saw that Kim’s pieces [for her Belle Noel jewelry line] were very similar to mine ... 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.

Of course, he's not going to sue her or anything, because he speculates that she probably doesn't even have anything to do with her own jewelry designs, anyway:

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.

Kim's people released a statement saying that any resemblance between her line and Bittar's is "purely coincidental." Meanwhile, the price points and target consumers are worlds apart, so neither designer (well, "designer") has much to worry about.

Iced out! [NYP]