ABSTRACT
In the years following 1945, design, as a messenger of modernity, penetrated the lives of increasing numbers of people across the globe. Inevitably, the war years had seen a temporary reduction in mass consumption and more emphasis upon making do and mending. However, by the late 1940s and ’50s, consumption was becoming the main form of self and group identification for people across a broad social spectrum. The result was a further democratization of the expression of taste in the marketplace manifested in a flurry of purchasing, especially of homes, furnishings, consumer gadgets, clothing and cars. New levels of earning motivated people to improve their material conditions and their social positions. In turn, those new expectations were part of the drive, on the part of many of the countries in Europe, to establish new national identities for themselves. Although the new lifestyles on offer in the marketplace were expressed through individual consumption, they also helped to define the new nations as modern, liberal democracies.
