GILGIL, KENYA — It was a song of welcome from women turning cast-off men’s shirts into handbag linings. The words rang like a hymn across the Ngong hills, echoing through the scrubby town, as small children clung to their mothers and joined in the chorus.

Among the bursts of laughter were two words that seemed unlikely to have come out of a local community in Africa: “Stella!” “Vivienne!”

The poorest of the poor — Masai women escaping polygamous menfolk or artisans from Nairobi’s chaotic slums — are making handbags for Western designers to sell to the wealthy. And that provides food for thought as yet another round of international fashion shows begins this week in New York.

Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, Ilaria Venturini Fendi and the Australian Sass & Bide are just four fashion companies engaged in making products in a way that irrigates arid lives. They may also be reflecting a new vision of luxury that involves human hands, respect for the environment and decency in employment.