The scene: Two hard-bitten dames clash over a man. At issue: Did one steal the other’s lover, then go on to marry … and murder him?
One of the women, Margaux Goldrich, is fictional. The other is the Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon, who performs a flinty version of herself grilling Margaux, an imperious fashion diva played by Patricia Black, about the character’s suspected role in her husband’s untimely death.
You won’t find this brooding melodrama on Netflix. The narrative spools out instead on social media as a string of darkly comic vignettes conceived and produced by the jewelry designer Alexis Bittar as part of an ongoing marketing campaign for his namesake company.
Mr. Bittar — who started his brand in the late 1990s, sold it to Brooks Brothers in 2015 and bought the business back three years ago — introduced the video campaign last fall. Ms. Sarandon, 77, is the latest and arguably biggest name to appear in the dozens of short episodes that have since been released on the Alexis Bittar Instagram and TikTok accounts. “I was drawn to what he has created with these satirical and unconventional skits,” she said via text message.
Amanda Lepore, Coco Rocha and Susan Sarandon are some of the notable people who have played versions of themselves in videos for the campaign.Credit…Kayhl Cooper via Alexis Bittar & St Regis
Other over-the-top, style-world personalities who have appeared as versions of themselves include: Mel Ottenberg, a stylist and the editor in chief of Interview Magazine; the model Coco Rocha; the nightlife fixture Amanda Lepore; and Kelly Cutrone, the tartly outspoken fashion publicist who has starred in her own reality TV show.
