During the spring of last year, Taylor Swift stepped out for a date night with her now-fiancé, NFL star Travis Kelce, wearing a breezy green gingham corseted top and skirt set by the Houston designer Hunter Bell. The much-photographed look sold out almost instantly. While this isn’t a new phenomenon for Bell—she’s experienced similar surges from pieces worn by celebrity fans Emma Roberts, Lake Bell (no relation), and Sophia Bush—the Taylor effect underscored an undeniable truth: After twenty years in business, the Hunter Bell brand has never been more relevant.
The foundation of that allure lies in the wildly colorful, exuberant patterns, ruffles, puffs, and embroidery that imbue Bell’s line with not only joie de vivre but also a jolt of personality in an increasingly minimalist fashion-scape. Bell credits her upbringing in Florence, South Carolina, and her mother’s work as a performer and choreographer in the local theater scene there, for that flair. “I loved watching the costumes come to life behind the scenes,” she recalls. “It really sparked my interest in design.” After studying fashion at the University of Alabama and Parsons, and toiling under the designers Rebecca Taylor and Nanette Lepore, Bell began dreaming up her own pieces at night in her New York City apartment and launched her collection in 2006. “I wanted the freedom to design things that felt authentic to my own point of view. Pieces that felt thoughtful and feminine.”
In 2009, Saks Fifth Avenue picked up her line, at the time called Hunter Dixon, introducing her work to a national audience. Then she won the NBC reality competition Fashion Star, in 2013, which awarded her $3 million in seed money and placement with other major retailers. The whole operation has evolved since then, including the name change, an expansion into such categories as outerwear and children’s clothes, and a pivot from solely wholesale to a dual retail/direct-to-consumer model influenced by the rise of social media. What remains the same: Hunter Bell’s commitment to what industry insiders term the “bridge” market, a tier just before luxury filled with independent designers creating inventive apparel (without the constraints, pressures, and price tags of larger fashion houses).
That freedom means Bell can wield color and pattern with abandon, alongside the company’s textile and print designer, Leslie Randall. Randall regularly appears on the brand’s Instagram feed, explaining, say, the provenance of hand-illustrated motifs to an audience of nearly two hundred thousand followers. Bell has also collaborated with such fine artists as the Georgia native Sally King Benedict and Houston’s Isabel Wilson to bring their work to life on apparel.
Naturally, much of Bell’s loyal and sweeping customer base lives in the South. “There’s a sense of joy and occasion in the way people dress here,” Bell says. “Femininity is embraced in a way that feels celebratory, and that spirit influences the storytelling in each collection.” So much so that Bell and her team often photograph each season’s line in iconic Southern locales—the Gasparilla Inn in Florida, downtown Charleston, South Carolina—to augment that narrative. “Those places naturally reflect the world our customer inhabits,” she says. “They have a sense of history and a relaxed elegance that align beautifully.”
This year’s spring and summer collections celebrate the brand’s twentieth anniversary in a familiar way, with dresses, separates, and swimwear saturated in bright pinks, citrines, and peacock blues, and accented in white lace, red fringe, Lurex tweed, or rainbow-hued smocking, embroidery, and quilted cotton. Bell particularly loves the structure of the statuesque Margaritte dress. “It perfectly captures joy,” she says. “There’s something about the way it moves and the energy it brings.” The fall line drops in late July with a flurry of suede, denim, and fringe, and prints in indigo, rust, and citrine.
Each look keeps in mind the pressures facing the modern woman. “She might be balancing work, family, travel, and a social life all on the same day,” Bell says. “What I’ve learned is that she values clothing that can move with her through different parts of her life, while still feeling expressive.” As a mother of three, Bell lives this philosophy. “I hope they learn that creativity requires curiosity and perseverance,” she says of her children. “Building something meaningful takes time and hard work, but it’s incredibly rewarding to pursue what you love.”
Haskell Harris is the founding style director at Garden & Gun. She joined the title in 2008 and covers all things design-focused for the magazine. The House Romantic: Curating Memorable Interiors for a Meaningful Life is her first book. Follow @haskellharris on Instagram.
