Editing Sloane Ranger

{{Use British English|date=February 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{short description|United Kingdom subculture/stereotype}}

In the United Kingdom, a '''Sloane Ranger''', or simply a '''Sloane''', is a [[stereotype|stereotypical]] [[Upper middle class|upper-middle]] or [[Social class in the United Kingdom|upper-class person]], typically although not necessarily a young one, who embodies a very particular upbringing and outlook. The Sloane Ranger style is a uniform, effortless, and unambitious although sophisticated one. Its counterpart in the US is the [[preppy]] style and in France is ''[[bon chic bon genre]]''. 

The term is a [[pun]] based on references to [[Sloane Square]], a location in [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], London, famed for the wealth of its residents and frequenters, and the television character ''[[The Lone Ranger]]''.

==Origin==

The coinage came from Martina (Tina) Margetts,<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3634284/Ann-Barr-The-woman-who-invented-Sloanes.html|title=Ann Barr: The woman who invented Sloanes|first=Cassandra|last=Jardine|date=4 October 2007 }}</ref> a sub-editor on ''Harpers & Queen'' who worked (with fellow sub-editor Laura Pank) on the{{explain|date=February 2024}} 1975 article.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2006/dec/03/architecture.communities|title=The battle for Sloane Square|first=Stephen|last=Bayley|newspaper=The Observer |date=3 December 2006|via=The Guardian}}</ref> In her early twenties she had found herself amongst this social group while undertaking a course on fine art at the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]].

Initially, the term "Sloane Ranger" was used mostly in reference to women, a particular archetype being [[Diana, Princess of Wales]]. However, the term now usually includes men. A male Sloane has also been referred to as a "[[Rah (slang)|Rah]]" and by the older term "[[Hooray Henry]]".<ref>{{cite news|title=On the trail of London's Sloane Rangers|work=The New York Times|date=25 March 1984|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=9C04EFD81139F936A15750C0A962948260}}</ref>

Although Sloanes are nowadays supposedly more widely spread and amorphous than in the past, they are still perceived to socialise in the expensive areas of west London, most notably [[King's Road]],<ref name="Independent 19940102">{{cite news|last=Slot|first=Owen|title=Same Sloanes, new Range: Ten years after their handbook was a bestseller, Owen Slot finds Caroline and Henry are still doing OK, Yah|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/same-sloanes-new-range-ten-years-after-their-handbook-was-a-bestseller-owen-slot-finds-caroline-and-henry-are-still-doing-ok-yah-1397455.html|work=The Independent|access-date=20 December 2011|date=2 January 1994}}</ref> [[Fulham Road]], [[Kensington High Street]], and other areas of [[Kensington]], [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]] and [[Fulham]]. The pubs and nightclubs in these areas are popular with Sloanes, {{Citation needed|date=April 2009}} in particular the [[The White Horse, Fulham|White Horse]] pub, known as the "Sloaney Pony" in Fulham, and Admiral Codrington, known as "The Cod", in Chelsea.<ref name="Independent 19940102" />

In 2015, [[Peter York]] argued that the Sloane population has been winnowed and that Sloanes were more likely to be leading the British trend to downward social mobility.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/sound-and-vision/the-fall-of-the-sloane-rangers-made-in-chelsea|title=The fall of the Sloane Rangers - Prospect Magazine}}</ref> In 2023, ''[[Tatler]]'' announced that it was time for the Sloane Rangers to "step aside" for the [[Bopeas]], or Bohemian Peasants, a term and social theory describing downwardly mobile elite embracing a "rural life of making, brewing, fermenting and foraging".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Delaney |first=Evie |date=2023-11-17 |title=On England's pleasant pastures seen: Rural rules the roost in the new class of bohemian peasants or 'Bopeas' |url=https://www.tatler.com/article/bopea-cultural-movement-bohemian-peasants-king-charles-rewilding-fermenters |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=Tatler |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Sloanes==
The following people have been considered by some to be Sloanes:

* [[Jemima Goldsmith]]<ref name="times">
{{cite news
  | last = Armstrong
  | first = Lisa
  | title = Just don't say yah... OK?
  | pages = Section 2 pp4-5
  | publisher = Times Newspapers Ltd
  | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-2553856_1,00.html
  | date = 19 January 2007
| access-date = 19 January 2006 }}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
</ref>
* [[James Hewitt]], Army officer and lover of Diana, Princess of Wales<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3668609/Sloane-Rangers-adapt-to-survive.html |title=Sloane Rangers adapt to survive |publisher=Telegraph |date=18 October 2007 |access-date=8 July 2013}}</ref>
* [[Tara Palmer-Tomkinson]]<ref name=":0" />
* [[Trinny and Susannah]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/06/1033538849446.html |title=Hooray, Henry, the Sloane tribe is back |publisher=theage.com.au |date=7 October 2002 |access-date=8 July 2013}}</ref>
* [[Catherine, Princess of Wales]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/kate-middleton/9001529/Kate-Middleton-and-the-rise-of-the-Sloane-Ranger.html |title=Kate Middleton and the rise of the Sloane Ranger |date=9 January 2012 |publisher=Telegraph |access-date=17 October 2022}}</ref>
* [[Sarah, Duchess of York]]<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web|last=Mount |first=Harry |url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harrymount/100040675/sarah-ferguson-the-sloane-that-time-forgot/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304110116/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harrymount/100040675/sarah-ferguson-the-sloane-that-time-forgot/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 March 2016 |title=Sarah Ferguson: the Sloane that time forgot – Telegraph Blogs |publisher=Blogs.telegraph.co.uk |date=23 May 2010 |access-date=8 July 2013}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|1980s}}
* [[Bon chic bon genre]]
* [[Bourgeois personality]] 
* [[British country clothing]]
* [[Class conflict]]
* [[Fuerdai]]
* [[I.J.G.B.]]
* [[International Debutante Ball]]
* [[Sloane Street]]
* [[Trixie (slang)]]
* [[Upper Class Twit of the Year]] (parody)
* [[Young fogey]]
* [[Bopea]], or "Bohemian Peasants", proclaimed by ''Tatler'' to be the Sloane Rangers' successors

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote|Sloane Ranger}}
* [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/story/0,,2093056,00.html "Return of the Sloanes"] by Jeremy Langmead, ''The Guardian'', 1 June 2007
* [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/dec/16/the-return-of-poshness "Tory chic: the Return of Poshness"] by Andy Beckett, ''The Guardian'', 16 December 2009

[[Category:British slang]]
[[Category:Culture of England]]
[[Category:Fashion aesthetics]]
[[Category:History of subcultures]]
[[Category:Slang terms for women]]
[[Category:Social class in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Social class subcultures]]
[[Category:Stereotypes of upper class women]]
[[Category:Subcultures]]
[[Category:Upper class culture in Europe]]
[[Category:Upper middle class]]
[[Category:Youth culture in the United Kingdom]]