Hello I'm Clo!

Inner city culture & lifestyle #blogger with a love for #vegetarian cooking, city #travel & inspirational coffee table books. To be found eating cake in a free wifi zone. http://www.helloimclo.com

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Camera at the ready for @bdalondon #trend #trendforecasting • • • #streetstyle #lcm #lfwm #mensstreetstyle #londonstreetstyle #fashionweek #fashionweekstreetstyle #styleinspo #fashion (at London Fashion Week)

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Hustle and bustle on The Strand • • • #streetstyle #lcm #lfwm #mensstreetstyle #londonstreetstyle #fashionweek #fashionweekstreetstyle #styleinspo #fashion (at London Fashion Week)

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It's cold outside but the fashion is hot! • • • #streetstyle #lcm #lfwm #mensstreetstyle #londonstreetstyle #fashionweek #fashionweekstreetstyle #styleinspo #fashion (at London Fashion Week)

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Hey! A bit of a random blog post from me today. - It's all about inner city composting, sexy, yeah? Since Adam and I moved into our first flat together in London this year I've been getting more and more into gardening, planting and growing things. We've got a lovely little balcony, with troughs full of primroses, pansies, herbs and wheatgrass (That is actually growing too well, but that's another story.) I'm very environmentally conscious and am really trying to limit the amount of plastic and non renewable / non recyclable things I buy. Back home my dad recycles everything, including his veg and fruit peels. He has a massive composter in the back garden and I like the idea of being able to compost my food waste and re-use it in planter soils to grow more food for our meals.

So I've been getting creative! Using a 125litre bag of spare soil I have on my balcony that's left over from planting my flowers, I've been adding our food scraps to it so it can decompose, making fresh compost for next summers growing soil. Everyday I add our veggie food scraps to an old mushroom container in the box at the bottom of our fridge and at the end of the week add them to the pile, then turn over the soil and wrap up away from the elements for another week of composting.

Granted, it's not the prettiest solution but it's eco friendly, budget friendly and is a great way of fertilising soil. Perhaps when I have some spare cash I'll upgrade to a fancy stainless steel bin. I know it can be hard to garden, grow your own veggies or get green when you're inner city or like me, don't live on the ground floor or have a garden but it can be done!

Here's what the composter currently looks like, we throw pretty much all our food waste (We don't have much of it) into the bag, including the used coffee grounds from our filter - it's the way forward and it means I don't have to carry out the bins!  Result!

If you're looking to create your own compost, this is a simple and easy way. I'll keep you all updated with my inner city gardening when spring comes around! I hope you enjoyed this little inner city composting guide, I know it's a little different from my usual content, but thought it might be helpful for my fellow flat-livers!

Clo :)

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I've been mood boarding for most of the day at work, creating and developing front cover and editorial photoshoot concepts for a magazine. I've worked online, offline, with fabrics, colour charts, blue tac and tape to create boards that represent my ideas. It's been one of those days where Ideas have simply flown and slotted into place to create a body of work that I'm really proud of.

Considering I've been mood boarding for longer than I've been blogging, It seems like I should probably share my work more on here, I am a fashion creative after all. Nothing makes me happier than mood boarding. I've always loves gluing and sticking, just like you do as a child, and as I've grown up I've never grown out of it. When I was about 7 it was all about collecting postcards from the places I'd go on trips to or visit on holidays, then when I became a teenager my interests changed, it became all about fashion and that's not changed since. The interest continued, I went to study Fashion Management & Marketing at Uni, ending up with a job in fashion forecasting and concept development.

If you'd have told me back then that mood boarding and scrapbooking would one day become part of my job, I'd have thought you were having a laugh! But it's true, mood boarding concepts, developing visual ideas is all in a days work and thankfully I still love it despite it being part of my day job. It's true what they say, If you have a job doing what you love it doesn't feel like a job at all.

Back in Uni I used to be the odd ball turning up at a marketing crit (Discussion on how your project was going so far) with a moodboard and nothing else, I used to talk my way through my ideas when everyone else had written notes and charts. I've always been a visual person and I'm glad that I've never shied away from it, even when everyone else was doing something different. My uni friends still laugh about it now, how no one ever questioned me rocking up with a massive piece of foam board and a few random images taped down. I like to think my work now is a little more sophisticated and with a few more notes!

Unfortunately I can't show you right now what I'm working on, but I'll be sure to share once I can. I'm going to start sharing some of my personal work on here though, perhaps some trend collages or some homeware inspo. So keep your eyes peeled!

Clo :)

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As some of you guys may already know if you follow me on Insta or have seen my previous street style blog post I was in Paris last week on a work trip. I went over on the Eurostar and didn't feel the best when I arrived, so I wandered through the streets of Paris, camera in hand taking in the sights and some much needed fresh air!

I love wandering through places I've never been before and despite Paris being only a stones throw away from London, I haven't been there since I was a kid and that was on a trip to Disneyland! I really enjoyed my little wander and exploration of the shopping districts, here are a few of the pictures I took on my way to Galleries Lafayette.

During my walk I came across some lovely little independent stores, book shops, retro stores and a billiards only store, now niche!  I managed to capture some of the street art too.  It always interests me, a cities street art, it says a lot about the people and the culture of a place.

I'd never been to Galeries Lafayette before and was totally mesmerised by the huge space, amazing visuals and all the brands and designer stuff they had on offer. It really is massive and their Christmas centrepiece is incredible! It's ginormous, there windows are definitely worth a look too, full of character and colour. A great destination for a spot of holiday shopping.

After work, I managed to catch a few of the Parisian sights, the Louvre, Notre Dame and wandered down the River Seine after filling my stomach with delicious French cuisine and a glass of red!

It was a short but sweet trip to the French capitol and I hope to be back soon to discover some more, hopefully next time I'll fly and feel a little bit better!

Clo :)

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I can't believe Christmas is only 4 weeks away, doesn't time fly? This year we're heading back up North to Newcastle to celebrate the holidays with Adam's family. I'm so looking forward to the break, the festivities and of course, the food! When we got back from New York in October I started making lists of what I was going to get people for Christmas, what we were going to bake, craft and create. My plan was to be organised, think out side the box and be prepared way ahead of time. Safe to say my plan hasn't planned out too well! Christmas is so close and I have family and friends staying every weekend up to Christmas, I'm super busy at work and Adam is in a play on top of his day job. Everything is happening all at once and we're running out of time to do everything we want  to do before the big day. So over a cup of tea I sat down and wrote down what was the most important things for me this Christmas, the things that I'd enjoy doing or creating that will bring me the best Christmas spirit, so here they are...

Decorating

With friends and family coming to stay, It being our first Christmas time in the new flat and feeling in full festive swing, I want the house to be decorated for when our guests arrive. Working in a creative industry I really feel the decorating pressure and have turned to pinterest for some serious guidance! I haven't yet decided on a theme, I do know though that I want to get a real tree for environmental reasons, figuring out where to buy it and how to get it home on the bus or tube will be another hurdle!

Traditional Stockings

I can't wait to make Christmas cards, wrap gifts and create Christmas stockings. I'm going traditional this year, some fruit, perhaps something else sweet and a little gift. As a kid I always did my stocking first thing in the morning, it has always symbolised the start of Christmas day for me, so I'm excited to create that enjoyment for others on Christmas morning. Because of this I've teamed up with IcyDeals who are offering a 50% discount on their Christmas Stocking set with the code HELLOIMCLO (Link Here)

Food

Being vegetarian, Christmas for me is all about the veggies. The more the merrier! I've actually been flicking through some of my cook books for festive recipes for the holidays, spicing up veg and trying different flavours for something extra special. I'll let you know what I decide to go for in the end. Festive food and drink is at the forefront of my mind and has been for a while, I've been buying Christmas treats once a week in the weekly shop so we'll be fully stocked for the season. I can't wait for Christmas eve, when Adam makes his traditional mince pies for Santa! Nothing beats that warm festive feeling of Christmas eve. It's safe to say I'm looking forward to Christmas this year. Friends, family and food, what a wonderfully combination.

Clo :)

*This is a sponsored post with IcyDeals but all Christmas spirit my own! 

You can get 50% off a Christmas 3 pack of stockings with my code HELLOIMCLO 

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Greetings from Paris! I've been in France this week for work at Premiere Vision Denim trade show looking at Denim for SS19! Whilst there I took a few street style photos. I'm loving the blurred lines of smart casual denim right now, something that I think will continue into SS18 and SS19. We'll wait and see!

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[queenallisandra]

My hobbies include walking into adult men who assume I'll move out of their way as we pass.

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Alex

“I’m wearing pants by Waggy Tee, designed by Nora Slade, a vintage white shirt, Doc Marten clogs, an Eckhaus Latta velvet jacket, a bag from Daiso (Asian dollar store), and sunglasses from a barbershop in Bed Stuy. My style inspirations: Janis Joplin, clowns/harlequins, Michael Clark, nautical comfort / love knits and patterns, tennis clothes and athletic wear, the matrix when they are on the ship in the “real world”, Alice Neel. I don’t follow fashion too closely - but Eckhaus Latta of course - theoretically I like Jil Sander, Vivienne Westwood, Calvin Klein Collection, Miu Miu - tho I don’t own clothes by any of those brands ?

Sep 9, 2017 ∙ Bushwick

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Gold tinted glasses

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Loving the layering 

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I realised the other day at work that I have one week left in London before I head to the big apple off on my holidays. With moving house, starting a new job and doing up our new pad, I've sidelined museum fashion exhibitions in London that I've been wanting to go to. With the turn of the season of shows now upon us, I've literally got a week to see all the art gallery and museum exhibitions that I wast to see before they all close. So after work on Thursday night I walked over Tower Bridge to The Fashion and Textiles Museum show of 'Anna Sui' I'll admit, I've never actually been to The Fashion & Textile museum (Bad fashion student, I know!) and now I've been I'm not sure why, it's supper close to London Bridge and in a sweet spot for little shops and independent cafes. So here are some of the photos I took whilst at the Anna Sui Fashion exhibition, If you're able to go, go it's on until 1st October so you've got a couple of weeks left, no need to book, just rock up and students get in for £6 which is a bargain! All details can be found here 'Fashion & Textile Museum Website.

It's been quite a while since I visited a designer exhibition, so It was a nice to immerse into the designers world for an hour.  Anna Sui's work is full of colour, adornment and statement pieces. Showcasing extracts of her life through words, film and the designer's fashion pieces themselves, it's like walking through the designers visual development.

There were some familiar faces on the walls of the exhibition, notably Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss (The week I visited was NYFW which showcased current 'It' girls Bella and Gigi Hadid.) But Sui's work goes beyond being 'It girl' status.  It's eclectic, it's intricate and most of all, it's fun.

The level of detail and adornment up close is amazing! I loved looking at the garments up close (Without glass in the way may I add.) Not only could I see the fashion pieces up close, I also was able to see them come to life through iPads showing the New York Fashion Week show they were a part of, be it from 1999 or 2006.

Split across two floors, the exhibition of accessories, make up and mood boards continues upstairs. Sui discusses her longstanding relationships with models, photographer Steven Meisel and make up artist Nars and Pat McGrath, providing an insight into what happens behind the scenes. 

The mood board gallery was my highlight, I love a good mood board. Seeing inspiration, research and ideas form into a final product, piece or collection. Sui is very inspired by research and lots of it and you can definitely see this in her work.  The exhibition draws to a close via a video of Anna Sui on American Chat shows, unfortunately I didn't get to hear it as there was an event on and I couldn't hear over the noise, but no bother, I really enjoyed the visual feast of the exhibition.

I spent over an hour in Anna Sui's world and would highly recommend going to visit if fashion is your thing!

The show is on until 1st October and all details can be found here on the 'World of Anna Sui' website.

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Looking forward to living recklessly over the weekend in #Birmingham by not having someone yell every 5 minutes 'mind the gap' that said, it's incredible how many people fail to read the signs, where has all the common sense gone!? Anyway, looking forward to retreating to the countryside and breathing in something other than the london smog. I do love living in london, I promise. #London #lblogger #helloimclo #GoingHomeHome #EscapeToTheCountry #Weekend #MiniBreak (at London, United Kingdom)

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£3.50 for a 6oz I nearly had a fucking heart attack. London is expesive but this independent coffee shop in #soho takes the piss. I'm all for supporting independent retailers and cafes but come on don't rob me, in the day time with your 'latte' ☕☕☕ #London #helloimclo #coffee #milkfree #lblogger #summer #coffeeshop #livinginlondon (at London Soho)

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Nothing beats the ease and comfort of converse and jeans! My wardrobe is becoming more and more casual, cant believe at nearly 22 my style is still evolving! #Fashion #London #Style #Shoes #Denim #Jeans #helloimclo #lblogger #chilled (at London, United Kingdom)

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Spotted whilst heading towards Liverpool St earlier this week. 🚶🏼‍♀️🚶🏼‍♀️🚶🏼‍♀️Nothing better than discovering London on foot, taking wrong turns and discovering something or somewhere new. What a funky way to jazz up a walkway! 🌈🌈🌈 • • • #London #orange #Yellow #Led #Lights #LiverpoolSt #Nightlife #Lighting (at Broadgate London)