The chic jewelry and accessories line Bisoux Jewelry is the handiwork of two sisters: Stephanie Lee and Vanessa Rigaud. The sisters took the pluralized spelling of the French word meaning “kiss”, and founded their well-received brand under that name. Born and raised in D.C. and the daughters of Haitian parents, the siblings launched the line in 2009.
Rigaud has a Bachelor’s degree and in Health Sciences from James Madison University, while Lee has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University. Somehow, jewelry making came calling, and the sisters bring their minds together to create a collection of pieces that are stunning, dressy, but that doesn’t outwear the wearer.
Q & A
Tell us about yourself.
STEPHANIE: I am a Jesus lover who is stimulated by all things creative. An aspiring jet-setter. Foodie, and an ambitious woman following my purpose to influence my environment with the gifts and talents God gave me.
VANESSA: I am a wandering wonderer always looking for a great find. I am a vegetarian who loves traveling around the world collecting treasures and always looking to book my next trip. I am a visionary who has a passion to serve my community and encourage others to do the same.
Do you think jewelry pieces are an absolute must to an outfit?
STEPHANIE: We believe jewelry pieces are an absolute must because we view jewelry as the exclamation mark to your outfit. You can take a casual look and dress it up with a bold necklace, earrings, or chunky bangles. Wearing jewelry gives you the opportunity to add color and texture to your outfit in a variety of ways. Just like your own personal style is an outward expression of your personality, so is the jewelry you choose to wear with it.
Bisoux Jewelry works with a great number of magazines. When you’re doing a photo shoot with fashion magazines, how do you plan things out?
STEPHANIE: When we’re recruited by fashion magazines to provide accessories for a photo shoot the Creative director or stylist sends us a vision board of related looks for the visual concept of the shoot. Once we understand the concept we start planning what jewelry pieces in our inventory would work best to either compliment, or enhance the looks they want. Some stylist already have an idea of which of our jewelry pieces they want to use and request those pieces. If we don’t have a jewelry piece in our inventory we think would look great with their concept we go looking for it. The final product looking its ultimate best is our goal so we bring as many pieces to the shoot we can to make sure we have what the stylist is looking for, or may not have thought of.
In terms of model photo shoots, how do you usually go about with those?
STEPHANIE: If a model request our services for their own look book we work with them to come up with a photo shoot concept. We ask what image they would like to portray and how they would like to be photographed. Normally we work with stylists and creative directors to pull looks together to dress the models. During shoots our main goal is the outcome so whether it’s a model, stylist, or photographer giving us creative suggestions we are open to hear them.
What do you do though when you have differences about, say, business matters or artistic direction?
VANESSA: Being a team gives us the creative ability to pull from two minds. We normally discuss our ideas and collectively decide which is best for the project. We understand what our strengths and weaknesses are and
know how to assign and manage business matters to the one with the strength in that area. Honestly, even as children/teens growing up we only ever had one argument. We are lucky to say we get along very well!
Bisoux Jewelry has a vast collection. Which pieces would you say are the most popular with your clients?
STEPHANIE: The most popular jewelry pieces with our clients are our statement necklaces. We love to collect pieces from all over the world so we often have pieces people have never seen before. We also like to use our jewelry in an unconventio
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