Sloane Ranger

In the United Kingdom, a Sloane Ranger (sometimes shortened to Sloane or Sloanie) is a stereotypical young upper-middle or upper class person who pursues a distinctive fashionable lifestyle. The term is a portmanteau of "Sloane Square", a location in Chelsea, London famed for the wealth of residents and frequenters, and the television character The Lone Ranger. Female Sloanes, especially those involved in equestrian activities, were often seen in the 1970s around London wearing Hermès or Liberty silk head scarves distinctively tied just below the mouth, masking part of the face, which furthered the "Lone Ranger" jest.

The term dates from 1975, when aspiring writer Peter York had conversations with Ann Barr (then features editor of UK magazine Harpers & Queen) about what had become a recognisable tribe of young people living in Chelsea and parts of Kensington. This led to an article for the magazine, defining the characteristics of this slice of English society.

Several years passed before the two collaborated on the Official Sloane Ranger Handbook, which became a global bestseller in 1982. The innovatory journalistic format and techniques from the 1975 article had by then become well established. Ann Barr and her editorial team at Harpers & Queen spent much time working on the original draft of the 1975 article. The potential of the piece, to become a talking point and to define a new form of social comment, was seen from the start. Barr and the sub-editors at the magazine devised many of the 'attributes' of a Sloane, added as boxes to the main text, in what became a widely imitated format. These delineated the habits and customs of the social group in question, from clothes, to shopping, to holiday venues, to choice of marital partner.

The Sloane Ranger proposal came from Martina (Tina) Margetts, a sub-editor on Harpers & Queen who worked (with fellow sub-editor Laura Pank) on the 1975 article. 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.

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