Recycled chic

A few weeks ago Xtina came back from the Philippines trailing a monster duffel bag filled with local handicrafts, the labor of some enterprising locals who live in extremely impoverished conditions. The crafts were put up for sale this weekend as part of a charity event for Xtina's NGO to raise some much-needed funds for these communities back home: financing things like school supplies (where there are schools).

The products were of a remarkably high quality. But that wasn't the real draw. The locals crafted the bags out of refuse. One woven bag was made of pages ripped from the phone book. If you looked hard, you could read off surnames, partial and whole, like "Cruz" and "Sant-something". Others were made from soda cans, juice packs and plastic shopping bags. Recyclable chic! I couldn't help but think these handbags would be all the rage in the funkier parts of Shoreditch and the East Village.

Not surprisingly, they sold pretty quickly to the trendy shoppers (and Luca). Here, the lovely Giulia models the juice pack bag:



and nostro Luca with the phonebook-weave bag, presumably a gift for one of his many admirers:



Please give a hand to our models. Che belli!