Long live vintage

In a scene from the film Thus Spoke Bellavista, the philosopher Luciano De Crescenzo makes an important distinction: «The Stoics love great goals set beyond life, and for these goals they are willing to die... We are not, we are Epicureans. We are content with little as long as this little is given to us as soon as possible».

Yes, sometimes a simple click is enough to fill our virtual cart with more or less superfluous items, with the guarantee of immediate delivery, lest our desire have to wait more than the blink of an eye. Epicurus also warned against desiring what you do not have, ending up ruining what you already have. And to think that in his time the modern consumer society did not yet exist, which according to the Polish philosopher Zygmunt Bauman has transformed everything into a commodity: "We consume every day without thinking, without realizing that consumption is consuming us and the substance of our desire. It is a silent war and we are losing it." Just think of the phenomenon of Fast fashion, which in recent years has transformed clothes into disposable items, designed to last just one season, made by real slaves, often children, forced to work for a pittance in precarious conditions. Clothes sold at rock-bottom prices, which after a very short use accumulate in incinerators or landfills in the poorest countries, with terrible environmental consequences.

How to reverse the trend? The answer, as always, can be found in the writings of great thinkers: Goethe reminds us that "man desires much, yet needs only little", Pirandello gets straight to the point: "Put a desire in a cabinet: open it: you will find a disappointment". In recent years, movements such as Slow Fashion have emerged, aimed at raising awareness among producers and educating consumers on more ethical and sustainable behavior.

So even an old coat can become an important object, to be taken care of, a bit like the old robe that the philosopher Colline, in the fourth act of Puccini's Boheme, decides to pawn at the Monte di Pietà, in order to earn some money that can alleviate the suffering of Mimì who is now dying. A short aria for bass «Vecchia zimarra, senti», in which the young bohemian is moved as he says goodbye to his overcoat, a faithful companion of many winters, which has never bowed its worn back before the rich and powerful and in whose capacious pockets have passed philosophers and poets, the passions of a lifetime. A moderate and sad Allegretto, in C sharp minor, which Puccini prescribes to be interpreted “with growing emotion”. The voice is accompanied by plucked strings and harp, with detached notes of bassoons and clarinet, while a flute in the low register doubles the melody. It is not an intermezzo as an end in itself: with the old overcoat also goes a piece of Colline’s carefree youth. This moving romance also reminds us, today more than ever, that the value of an object derives from the fullness of life of the person who uses it and not from possession as an end in itself. There are things that cost and others that are worth…


Mauro Tabasso
with Valentina Giaresti
NP February 2025