The Roaring Twenties: The Original Consumer Boom
FRESH BREWS
Have you ever wondered how we came to embrace such greyness and simplicity as you stared out at the expansive cityscapes of our concrete jungles? Colour seems to have nearly disappeared from our everyday existence. Maximalism's resurgence, however, appears to be helping people heal their hearts and gain the passion they've always desired. So allow me take you to a period of great music, art, and consumerism, a period packed with artistic, cultural, and social optimism. Let me tell you about colour prior to the world wars and whether or not its economic impact led to prosperity.
After the Guns Fell Silent: A New Era of Prosperity
The end of World War I did not simply mark peace—it set the stage for a society eager to redefine itself. Soldiers returned to a nation buzzing with industrial energy, and factories that once powered the war effort now shifted gears to produce goods destined for homes across America. Automobiles rolled out of assembly lines in record numbers, radios carried music and news across living rooms, and electricity spread into households that had once been lit by candlelight.
With these changes came a new sense of possibility. Wages were rising, and for many families, disposable income was no longer a dream but a reality. Shopping was no longer limited to essentials but a gateway to utopia. This period of prosperity built an atmosphere of confidence—an almost intoxicating belief that the future would only grow brighter. The skyline of cities began to climb higher, symbolizing not just economic strength but the bold ambition of an era ready to leave the darkness of war behind that too quickly.
This wave of prosperity didn’t just put money in people’s pockets, it reshaped how they lived, dreamed, and consumed. With more disposable income and access to modern technology, Americans were no longer content with simplicity; they craved excitement, entertainment, and expression. This hunger for novelty set the stage for the consumer boom, the jazz-fuelled nightlife, and the artistic revolutions that would come to define the Roaring Twenties.
Consumerism in the 1920s was unlike anything the world had seen before. Cars rolled out of factories at prices the average family could finally afford, and suddenly the open road became a symbol of independence and adventure. Radios turned living rooms into gateways of sound, filling homes with jazz, breaking news, and the thrill of live sports. In kitchens and laundry rooms, shiny new appliances promised to save time and add comfort, selling not just convenience but a modern way of living. Hollywood rose as a cultural giant, with movie stars turning into national obsessions and theaters. Fashion shifted dramatically as young women, the daring flappers, embraced short skirts, bobbed hair, and bold makeup, defying old traditions with every step. All of this was fueled by a new wave of advertising and installment buyiny, catchy slogans urged people to spend, while credit made it possible to purchase luxuries that once felt out of reach. Shopping was no longer about survival—it was about identity, freedom, and the thrill of belonging to the spirit of the times. It truly was the era of the bold.
But behind the glitter of jazz clubs and shiny appliances lay a quieter revolution. One that reshaped not just what people bought, but how they paid for it.
Spending the Future: Credit and Installment Buying
The Roaring Twenties weren’t just defined by what people consumed, but by the way they consumed it. For the first time, families no longer had to wait until they saved up enough money to afford big-ticket items. Instead, a new system of credit and installment buying invited them to “buy now, pay later.”
In today’s words, “buy now, pay later” meant that instead of paying the full price upfront, you could take an item home immediately and then pay it off in small amounts over time—like splitting a big bill into manageable chunks. For example, if a radio cost $100, a family might pay $10 a month until it was fully theirs. It was almost like taking out a mini loan directly from the store, and it made expensive products suddenly feel within reach. It is something still used widely amongst most people for paying up cars, electronics etc…
Automobiles, radios, refrigerators, and even fashionable clothing could be purchased in small monthly payments, making luxuries accessible to households that had never dreamed of owning them before.
This financial innovation seemed like liberation. It allowed ordinary people to step into modernity without hesitation, keeping pace with a culture that moved faster each day. Department stores and manufacturers promoted installment plans as the key to happiness and progress, while advertisements promised a better life was only a signature away. To many, it felt like prosperity was limitless. Why would you wait for tomorrow when the future could be brought home today?
Yet beneath the thrill of instant gratification lay a more fragile reality. Credit blurred the line between affordability and desire, encouraging people to spend far beyond their means especially with idea of false abundance. While it fueled the dazzling energy of the decade, it also sowed the seeds of vulnerability. The same system that gave people freedom in the moment would, by the decade’s end, leave many households drowning in debt when the economic tide finally turned.
The Rhythm of a New Age: Jazz, Nightlife, and the Harlem Renaissance
If credit and consumerism gave the decade its shine, music and nightlife gave it its heartbeat. The 1920s pulsed to the rhythm of jazz as the sounds born in African American communities that quickly swept across the nation. In smoky speakeasies and glamorous ballrooms, people danced the Charleston and the Lindy Hop, casting aside the stiffness of the old world in exchange for freedom, movement, and joy. Jazz was more than music; it was rebellion wrapped in rhythm, a declaration that life could be lived louder, faster, and unapologetically bold.
Nowhere was this cultural explosion more vibrant than in Harlem, New York. The Harlem Renaissance became a cradle of creativity where poets, musicians, and artists gave voice to a generation. Writers like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston celebrated Black identity and heritage, while musicians like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong redefined the sound of modern music. For many, Harlem was a beacon, a place where art and culture flourished, challenging old barriers and offering a glimpse of a more inclusive future.
But the glitter of nightlife and the brilliance of new voices also revealed the decade’s contradictions. Jazz clubs often welcomed Black performers while barring Black patrons at the door. Prohibition, meant to curb alcohol consumption, instead fuelled a thriving underground of speakeasies and organized crime. The same freedom that allowed women to cut their hair, shorten their skirts, and claim their independence also sparked backlash from traditionalists who saw the decade as a moral decline. Even the Harlem Renaissance, though celebrated, was at times commercialized and exoticized by outsiders who consumed its art without fully respecting its message.
So while the 1920s glittered with music, dance, and artistic rebirth, it was not without tension. For every burst of freedom, there was resistance; for every new voice that rose, there were voices still silenced. The Roaring Twenties was both liberation and limitation, progress and prejudice, a decade dazzling in its duality.
Selling the Dream: Advertising and New Technologies
If prosperity provided the stage, then advertising and technology were the spotlight that made the Roaring Twenties shimmer. This was the decade when selling became an art form. Bright posters, catchy slogans, and glossy magazine spreads no longer just described products, they sold a lifestyle, a dream. Companies promised not only the latest gadgets but the feeling of modernity itself. To own a car was to claim freedom. To wear a certain dress or lipstick was to announce sophistication. Consumption was no longer practical—it was aspirational.
Technology made these promises irresistible. The radio, a marvel of its time, brought jazz into homes, carried presidential speeches across states, and delivered advertisements directly to millions of living rooms. Movies, too, became powerful tools of persuasion. Hollywood stars were not only idols on the screen but walking advertisements for fashion, beauty, and luxury. Even the growth of billboards along new highways turned the act of travel into an endless parade of temptation.
This marriage of advertising and technology did more than drive sales, it reshaped culture. People began measuring themselves against images carefully crafted by ad men and screenwriters, chasing ideals of glamour, wealth, and modernity that were often out of reach. It was dazzling, intoxicating, and sometimes deceiving. The world was learning, for the first time, how powerful the art of persuasion could be.
The Glittering Economy: Prosperity and Its Price
All of these changes of credit, consumerism, dazzling advertisements, and new technologies, painted a picture of unstoppable growth. Industry thrived, the stock market soared, and confidence became the currency of the age. To the average American, it felt as though modern life had finally arrived, promising freedom, convenience, and a brighter tomorrow. Factories ran at full speed, cities reached toward the clouds, and the rhythm of progress seemed impossible to interrupt.
But prosperity came with hidden costs. Easy credit encouraged people to spend beyond their means, leaving families vulnerable when debts caught up. The stock market, once the realm of cautious investors, became a playground for speculation, with countless Americans borrowing money just to buy shares. Farmers, too, who had fed Europe during the war, now faced falling crop prices and crushing loans. The economy glittered brilliantly on the surface, but underneath it all, fault lines were beginning to spread.
The Roaring Twenties dazzled with confidence, but it was a confidence built on fragile foundations. What seemed like endless prosperity was, in truth, a delicate balance. One that could not last forever.
When the Music Stopped: The Stock Market Crash
For nearly a decade, the American economy had danced to the rhythm of endless growth. Stocks soared, fortunes multiplied overnight, and ordinary people believed the market was a golden ladder anyone could climb. Banks eagerly lent money, and investors borrowed heavily, convinced prices could only rise. It was a frenzy of confidence, a gamble disguised as certainty.
But in late October 1929, the illusion began to unravel. On Black Monday, October 28, panic swept through Wall Street. Stocks plummeted by record amounts, and the atmosphere of confidence that had defined the decade was replaced by fear. The following day, Black Tuesday, October 29, the market collapsed entirely. Crowds gathered outside the New York Stock Exchange, watching in disbelief as share prices tumbled and fortunes disappeared in a matter of hours. Investors who had borrowed heavily were left bankrupt overnight, unable to repay their debts, and banks that had fueled speculation began to crumble under the weight of unpaid loans.
The crash was more than numbers on a ticker tape, it was the sudden collapse of a dream. Families who once filled their homes with radios, appliances, and fashionable clothes now faced unemployment, repossessions, and uncertainty. Businesses shuttered, farms failed, and the glittering confidence of the Roaring Twenties dissolved into silence. What had seemed like a golden age revealed itself as fragile, and in its place came the long, harsh years of the Great Depression.
Aftermath: The Great Depression
When the market collapsed, the consumer boom of the 1920s unraveled almost overnight. Families who had once embraced installment plans and credit now found themselves unable to pay even for basic necessities. Radios were pawned, cars were repossessed, and the glittering appliances that symbolized progress became painful reminders of dreams that had slipped away. What had been a culture of abundance quickly turned into an era of scarcity.
Unemployment spread like wildfire. By the early 1930s, millions of Americans were out of work, and breadlines stretched down city streets that had once glowed with neon lights. Farmers, already burdened with debt and falling crop prices, faced foreclosure and ruin. The vibrant confidence of the Roaring Twenties had ended, replaced by the silence of shuttered factories and the uncertainty of survival. The “roar” of the decade was gone, leaving in its place the sobering stillness of the Great Depression.
Lessons from a Decade of Boldness
The Roaring Twenties dazzled with colour, confidence, and creativity, but its legacy is also a warning. It showed us the beauty of innovation, art, and bold self-expression, but also the dangers of unchecked speculation and overconfidence in endless growth. Advertising, credit, and consumerism promised freedom, yet they also created fragility that cracked under pressure.
What we can learn is that prosperity without balance is fragile. The 1920s remind us that progress is most powerful when it is sustainable, when boldness is tempered with foresight. And perhaps, even today, as trends of maximalism and colour return to our lives, we are once again searching for what the Roaring Twenties sought: a way to live fully, express boldly, and embrace modernity, without forgetting the lessons of fragility hidden beneath the glitter.
The jazz may have quieted, but its lessons still echo.