Caroline's back in town
Amanda Herries COOLER, FASTER, MORE EXPENSIVE: THE RETURN OF THE SLOANE RANGER by Peter York and Olivia Stewart-Liberty Atlantic Books, £19.99, pp. 336, ISBN 9781843546771 © £15.99 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 The Sloane is dead — but long live the Sloane. Her mother, Caroline, and father, Henry — the original Hooray — may be in their natural retirement homes in the Shires or Scotland along with the family dog snug by the Aga in the cosy kitchen, but she, we now know, using her native skills, has burst out of her famous 1980s stereotype to adapt to the new order. It's an amusing conceit, with enough truth for 20-year-olds to have a wry laugh at themselves.
Twenty-five years ago, a series of articles written by that grandee of social observation Peter York, in the then vital directory of upper-middle-class social mores Harpers & Queen, identified the various not-so-exotic creatures whose centre of the Known World was Sloane Square. The Sloane Ranger and her appendages — family, pets, educational qualifications, clothes, holiday preferences and rules for life — were the topic of numerous handbooks and diaries housed, naturally, on the loo bookshelf of every young thing who knew they were — or aspired to be — just like Caroline, Henry and their friends. It was a huge and very successful injoke. Peter York has, firmly tongue in cheek (but with a disturbing accuracy), amused himself with a look at the next generation of this once proud species in a new egalitarian, classless, meritocratic world. And surprise, surprise, there they all are. The names have changed — a little — and this book, hardback, slicker and shinier than the original (like its subjects), will join its dog-eared paperback predecessor on the loo shelf. It will amuse, although there is less attention to detail.
There have been some hiccups in the past 20 years. Perhaps the most devastating was the rather confusing evolution and totally unexpected conclusion of the young life that had been the Sloane icon — Diana's. Featured centre-cover on the original 1982 handbook, she flew dazzlingly close to the sun and crashed to earth. But a previous crash had already sent cracks and ruptures through the Known World. The City's Big Bang of 1986 allowed deregulation and exposed old boy networks and career paths that had been taken for granted. Merit and ambition became not only acceptable but also necessary, and celebrity was a word heard everywhere.
Diana proved that despite impeccable well-bred and ill-educated Sloane roots it was possible to mutate, and to become not only a princess but also a celebrity. It is that ability that has provided material for this new 'anthropological survey'. So in 2007 Sloanes have spread their wings, shed several stone in weight, and allowed themselves to be slotted into eight new and sharply satirical categories.
The great thing about the Sloane is that she, or he, is much cleverer than you ever expected, and for the most part is masterful at assimilating the rules of the new social game with enormous élan. Nonetheless, old Sloane values and absolutely essential networks are secretly and instinctively maintained. It was ever thus. 'Thumping Sloane' is the generational throwback, still wondering how things have changed so much, but at the other end of the spectrum is 'Bongo Sloane' — pseudo and hippie. Somewhere in between are Sloanes to suit every occasion, particularly a party, and they come with the caveat of the title: cooler, faster and more expensive.
In addition the Sloane, like the rest of society, has gone global. Whereas Henry and Caroline skied, took the cultural interlude in Italy or the slightly daring long-haul trip to India or the Far East, their offspring have become true jet-set Euros and have even embraced Nylon life — not a sudden tangential description of the clothes they wear for these forays but the new-speak of the 'Turbo Sloane', the financially savvy version with a dual existence in New York and London, comfortably at home in a chic members-only club with establishments both sides of the pond.
Sloanes now happily rub sleek bare shoulders with pop or media stars, models and footballers. They have come through the rocky times and now embrace chav and celebrity. They are skilled readers of the zeitgeist. But they retire, and return, to their background in the new guise of the `Eco Sloane', completely in tune with the Green Agenda (and wellies), for they have, after all, always had a total affinity with the land.
Previous page
