Our Story

Isabelle Hunter & Co. began with a wardrobe our founder, Alexandra Barnes, could imagine clearly but could never quite find: clothing made for a day in the field, yet refined enough to belong everywhere the day might lead.

Raised around the shooting sports, Alexandra had long searched for pieces that were practical without feeling purely utilitarian—clothing with femininity, ease, and a sense of permanence. She wanted garments that allowed a woman to move freely and feel capable, while still feeling entirely like herself. When the search continued to come up short, she began designing what she had hoped to discover.

Before long, it became clear that the clothes belonged to a larger life. They were part of everything surrounding the sporting day: early walks and muddy boots by the door, a blouse worn from the field to lunch, work in the garden, weekends in old houses, and friends lingering around the table. The vision grew into something broader—a wardrobe for women whose lives move easily between outdoors and in, and who want to feel equally at home in both.

Our collections are developed slowly, with care for season, function, and enduring personal style. We consider how a garment moves, how it flatters, how the fabric will feel and wear, and whether every detail earns its place. We hope each piece becomes more than something beautiful to put on: the vest reached for without thought, the blouse worn in countless ways, or the hat that seems to find its way into every photograph.

Isabelle Hunter & Co. is a field and countrywear brand rooted in the things we return to again and again: beauty with purpose, competence and femininity, sporting heritage, domestic ritual, and a life lived in rhythm with land and season. We create for women who feel at home in these overlaps—and who believe the most lasting things are made thoughtfully, worn often, and loved over time.

Our Founder

Alexandra Barnes feels most herself where field and house meet: wandering nearby meadows and woodland paths, working a garden with more ambition than certainty, spending a day on the clays course, or baking in an old kitchen while family life carries on around her. She is drawn to a country life shaped by the seasons, where time outdoors, useful work, domestic ritual, and the quiet beauty of ordinary days each have their place.

Before becoming a mother, Alexandra worked as a photographer and writer while immersing herself in fashion design by night. She now lives with her family and their Great Pyrenees, Dorothy, on a former dairy farm in Connecticut, with an 18th-century cottage in Vermont whose story they are slowly revealing. Her days are grounded in motherhood: the joy, disorder, and fleeting wonder of life with a young daughter. This season has deepened her instinct to work thoughtfully, live seasonally, and leave space for life as it comes.

Shooting has been part of Alexandra’s life since childhood; she received her first gun for Christmas just after turning four and still cherishes both it and the sport. Most days, though, are spent chasing a toddler, staying one step behind the dishes, tending the garden, baking, or continuing her campaign for chickens—and perhaps a few sheep for Dorothy to guard.

She is drawn to history, usefulness, and beauty in equal measure, and is slowly building the kind of field-and-country life she has long imagined—one grounded in the outdoors, generous hospitality, and the pleasures of things well made and well kept.