The very short version of this discussion would discuss nothing before the 1950s. The Great Depression of the 1930s, following the First World War, left a dent in people’s pockets and curbed the desire of society to spend and consume more than was absolutely necessary. Strangely, the Second World War and its aftermath gave us an increased capacity to produce goods, yet left society with an ingrained desire to be frugal. Conspicuous consumption was a thing of the past and we had all learned to ‘make do and mend’.
