London's West End had developed into a hub for department stores, commercial entertainment, and brand advertising by the 1930s. Customers were urged to define themselves through their purchases by posters, billboards, and window displays. A culture where identities were increasingly formed by consumer choices was brought about by this increase in advertising. These changes were mirrored in British literature: modernist authors like Virginia Woolf examined how mass culture affected individual consciousness, while Aldous Huxley's Brave New World depicted a dystopia based on consumption. The commercial West End represented the contemporary impulse to purchase, flaunt, and yearn.
