hf COVERSTORY
Model and influencer Chloe Lloyd is a social media trailblazer, being a forerunner in creating her own digital brand. Here, she talks podcast plans and building her business
Despite the inevitable exposure, one can never really tell what an influencer is like until meeting them in person. As Chloe Lloyd jokingly puts it, “Social media isn’t real three-dimensional life… it’s like a magazine.” However, Chloe is exactly as expected, beautiful, creative and she clearly possesses a strategic business mind. Yet, what truly stands out, as we converse in her “Parisianinfluenced” kitchen, is her sharp wit, a characteristic undoubtedly appreciated by her nearly half a million Instagram followers.
Alongside posts displaying her carefullycurated “classic and elevated” looks, that usually tilt towards a monochrome and neutral colour palette, and, of course, her love of all things make-up and beauty, the model-turnedinfluencer is often joined by her equally photographic husband Josh Cuthbert, of the now disbanded English boy group Union J, who himself has 440k followers on Instagram.
“When Josh finished with his band [in 2018] I persuaded him to start an Instagram account to post men’s fashion and lifestyle content. It made sense, because there are still not that many men doing it – compared to the insane amount of girls, anyway.
“He actually really loves it and it feels very natural. He mainly works with luxury fashion, lifestyle, grooming and car brands from all over the world,” she says adding, “And we get to work together on projects too which is always fun. We feel very lucky.”
Chloe met Josh in 2014 at London Fashion Week. “My agent and I decided to go on to another event, which we weren’t going to attend, but we wanted more drinks,” she laughs.
Whilst standing in the corner with his fellow Union J members, her agent noticed Josh was looking at Chloe. “She said, ‘He’s staring at you’. And I was like, ‘I don’t care. I’m not interested. I want to be single’. And then he came up to me and asked for my number.”
Union J weren’t on her radar at the time, “I think they were more for the younger audience, I didn’t know much about them to be honest,” but she soon became a convert. “Obviously, once I was going out with him I was a huge fan… their biggest fan,” she smiles.
One year to the day after the couple’s serendipitous meeting they were engaged. Josh proposed during a romantic holiday in Venice: “On a gondola, classic!” she laughs. “We were babies, only 22, and now I’m like, that’s crazy.”
The couple wed in 201
