It's not just booze binges and mediocre handbag designs threatening Mischa Barton's efforts to take her accessories line worldwide. Her latest enemy is an Australian handbag designer.

Mischa hopes to trademark her name, signature and logo Down Under, but Queensland brand Mischa Accessories has other ideas. The Gold Coast-based handbag ...

She might have left Orange County years ago, but Mischa Barton continues to be one of this generation's style icons by doing a whole lot of nothing! That’s not entirely true; the actress is apparently a "handbag designer" these days.

I use the term loosely, because her fall/winter purses aren't really ...

Just like Lindsay Lohan, Mischa Barton is another Hollywood starlet who seems to have abandoned the screen for a more fashionable career. Leaving her OC days far behind her, Mischa is designing some gorgeous handbags.

To celebrate her spring/summer 2009 line, Mischa has joined the digital age. She's just launched ...

Hollywood stars would like you to believe they're not as superficial as the glamorous lifestyles they lead. Sure they might make millions, but they love to use that cash to feed starving children and help the homeless.

But you can't change the world if you don't look good first, right? So while the starlets might pledge thousands to their favorite charities, they're spending just as much on the latest designer handbags. Drab outfits might have been OK for Mother Theresa, but today's celebrity saints have a reputation to uphold.

It makes you wonder whether the stars believe in the causes they support, or whether it's all just a cheap grab for publicity. Are they celebrity charlatans using poverty to gloss their image, give them publicity, which subsequently generates them more fame and money to feed a designer shopping addiction?

How can these socially aware stars spend thousands on some arm candy while people in third-world countries are still dying of hunger? Some of these bags are so expensive, they'd easily feed an entire African village.

If you've pledged to help fight poverty how can you justify spending thousands on a designer handbag when that that money could make a huge impact on poverty to hundreds (if not thousands) of people.

Maybe I'm being too harsh on these famous celebrities but when you look at how much they've spent and how that money could have been used to fight poverty it makes you question their motives. Just take a look at these examples of "poverty fighting" celebs and their excessive handbag spending:
Angelina Jolie and Zahara Show Off Matching Valentino Purses

Image source: The Purse Blog
Angelina Jolie is the poster child for celebrity do-gooders. She's a United Nations ambassador, and her Jolie-Pitt Foundation helps humanitarian causes all around the world. She also likes to adopt orphans from poverty-stricken nations, like adorable Zahara.