The standard of living was very poor indeed, but I always found that 'they' had retained a lot of the values that we'd thrown away.
Anecdotally, I always used to buy some Chanel No. 5 to take over to one of the girls over there, thinking it would be the utmost luxury, only to be latterly ishown a cupboard full of the stuff - evidently every western visitor had obviously had the same idea. She no doubt thought it was very cheap.