Nicholas Craig column
Feb 10 2006 By Nicholas Craig, The Journal
When did we all become so co-ordinated? Being a `co-ordinator' appears to be the booming profession of this decade. My sanity has been more or less retained in recent weeks thanks to a house moving co-ordinator. Weddings, Christmases, lifestyles, training schedules, gardens and travel are all being `co-ordinated' to create memorable, if costly, events.
It's shorthand for handing over horrible detail to a cool, calm professional: someone who exudes the assured air of being more competent than yourself. He or she will complete the task, however, complex, while you continue keeping body, soul and co-ordinator's fees together at the workplace.
Christmas co-ordinators festively deck out your entire house in a day: wedding planners choose the colours, the flowers, the entertainment and the venue: lifestyle co-ordinators push your body to the limits, alter your diet, clothes and social diary. They all shape your life to suit the current vogue. We end up with the ultimate result - all calculated in advance and usually pretty effective. My own happy experience of working with a co-ordinator, however, does not always turn out as smoothly for others. The rapid rise of this new profession reflects the quick fix mentality we have adopted to keep as many balls as possible juggling all at once. The outcome can lack personality because it is as processed as packed meat, lacking the character of the owner.
The trend towards a sleekly co-ordinated lifestyle is the opposite of the cosy home-baked, knitted, do-it-yourself life in which most of us grew up. In my opinion, a bit of ramshackle rusticity adds to a house, garden or lifestyle. Co-ordinators everywhere would blanch at the jumble with which many of us prefer to surround ourselves when relaxing.
Every decade seems to throw up a new kind of person who thrives in the moment. The 70s sported the international sophisticates, the 80s the yuppie, the 90s the laid-back, dressed down executive, and in this decade we have the makeover magicians. Their dissatisfaction with our attempts at `life' and `style' and clinical approach to quick-fix transformations makes for addictive television. But it is as far from reality TV as it is possible to get. Manicured, mistake-free living is only possible on film, or for short, sharp events. If co-ordinators can learn to cope with clutter and cosy confusion, perhaps their careers will last far longer.
