During Paris Fashion Week, I do much more than attend the défilés. I also visit showrooms and private presentations, where I often see collections by small-scale designers who tend to be ignored by traditional fashion press. During the most recent Prêt-à-Porter shows, for example, Patricia de Ganay opened her beautiful home to Ilaria Venturini Fendi, the designer of a line of eco-friendly accessories called Carmina Campus. Ilaria (the youngest daughter of Anna Fendi), grew up in that family’s rarefied world of superb craftsmanship and luxury fabrics, but now focuses on one of fashion’s great opportunities–reclaiming formerly-used or cast-off materials and turning them into beautiful new products (the bags shown above are made of woven straw used to cover car seats, with salvaged leather trim). In the case of Carmina Campus, the benefits are twofold: Ilaria’s business creates jobs within challenged African communities, and stems the flow of wastefulness.

Photograph by Stephane Israël