Chillies and Clothes
Founder : Chetna Patel
Thank you so much for visiting Chillies and Clothes! In a nutshell Chillies and Clothes is about my love for food and fashion. They don’t always go hand in hand as you can imagine (cakes plus skinny jeans is asking for trouble) but both make me happy.
My love for cooking started early on, nurtured by my mother, grandma and aunts because teaching Indian cooking is a family thing.
There were no recipes or measurements – how much you put in was down to your intuition and personal taste. You develop your own style, by figuring out how you like your spice.
My girls, my patient husband and I, now live more of a country life, not too far from London. Chillies and Clothes is about the life we live – food, fashion, family and fun (and the things that happen in between). It’s my way of giving my girls a family cookbook of my version of our Indian food heritage.
My working life started in marketing for large FMCG’s, and later I created a business making stylish Mummy bags following the birth of my girls. I’m always exploring my creativity, and as food is such a central part of our lives, it was inevitable that what I was making or wearing started to appear in my Instagram feed (@chilliesandclothes). Over time, more and more friends and family started asking for recipes and ideas on how to use the spices and ingredients, and I realised that by sharing my own experiments in style, fashion and family life, I could encourage and support anyone wanting to give spice a go, and to trust themselves a little. What’s the worst that could happen? You’ll learn, you’ll have a laugh. Chuck it in, and see what happens. So Chillies and Clothes was born.
I have a great bunch of expert friends whose advice and support I value in my own journey experimenting in fashion and nutrition.
Trust yourself, and let’s throw in a little spice together. It’ll work out!
Style Guru : Clare Watson
Clare has an amazing ability to combine her experience and styling know-how to help make women, no matter what size, shape or age to look and feel amazing.
Chet first met Clare in 2009, shortly after her first daughter was born for a much needed style makeover. To this day Chet looks to Clare for inspiration and advice on how to push her style boundaries and dress outside her usual outfit comfort zone.
Nutrition Guru : Dee Brereton-Patel
Dee is a vastly experienced, results driven therapist and functional medicine practitioner. She holds a degree in pharmacology, is a lecturer and clinical supervisor for students of Nutritional Therapy, and is the Clinic Director at Optimised Personal Wellness.
Dee is passionate about helping a wide range of clients to reach optimal health through personally designed, natural, science based nutrition and lifestyle solutions. Driven by ongoing research into the root causes sub-optimal health, she has helped hundreds of chronically ill people to feel and perform better through her approach to personalised medicine.
Chet met Dee a couple of years ago and has utilized Dee and her amazing nutritional knowledge to help with various supplement requirements for both herself and her family. Chet goes to Dee for advice on the best vitamin D drops to take through to the difference between probiotics and prebiotics and when to take them.
www.optimisedpersonalwellness.co.uk