Typically, a presidential inauguration would not be the go-to occasion for sartorial innovation, populated as they often are with middle-aged men in staid suits.
In 2021, however, as President Biden was sworn into office, two fashion moments unexpectedly set the internet alight. The first was, of course, Bernie Sanders and his infamous mittens. The second was Ella Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris’ step-daughter. Glimmering amongst a sea of bland ecru coats and suit jackets, Emhoff donned a moiré dress by cult brand Batsheva, with a jewel-dripped tweed Miu Miu coat over the top.
It was effortlessly cool, made even more so when it was later revealed that Emhoff, at the time a textiles student at Parsons School of Design, had actually worked with designer Batsheva Hay to design the dress. Suddenly, Emhoff had caught the attention of the world’s most influential taste-makers and fashion magazines. After the inauguration, Emhoff's Instagram following increased from 50,000 followers to over 300,000 in the space of a few days. Just over a week later, and she was signed to IMG models, the prestigious modelling agency which also represents the likes of Heidi Klum and Gigi Hadid.
Since then, 25-year-old Emhoff has appeared on the catwalk for Miu Miu and Balenciaga, fronted brand campaigns and attended a Met Gala. With more than 340,000 followers on Instagram, she is a regular on the runway front row, pictured last month at Tony Burch’s New York fashion week show, as well as other household names like Stella McCartney.
But it is perhaps her casual look that has earned her the most notoriety. Emhoff’s alternative style has seen her nicknamed “the First Daughter of Bushwick” (a famously artsy New York neighbourhood). Her signature look features round-frame glasses, vibrant (and often-homemade knitwear), tank tops that reveal her many eclectic tattoos, and her trademark curly bob.
Emhoff has made such a name for herself in New York’s fashion circles that some who meet her are unaware of her political connections (perhaps not so true now that her stepmother is in the running for the top job). The daughter of Doug and Kerstin Emhoff, an entertainment lawyer and a Hollywood producer, Emhoff and her brother Cole were raised in Los Angeles. Their parents divorced in 2009, and Doug married Kamala Harris five years later in 2014, making her stepmother to his two children.
Here’s everything you need to know about the White House’s most stylish potential resident.
‘I never saw myself as someone stylish’ – from ‘nerdy’ kid to IMG model
Born in 1999, Emhoff grew up in California, far from the fashion capitals of New York or Paris. But her upbringing wasn’t typical political dynasty stuff either – she and her brother were named after musicians Ella Fitzgerald and Johnny Coltrane.
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“I never saw myself as someone stylish,” Ella Emhoff said in a 2021 interview with Elle, of her early interest in fashion. “But… I was able to stick with my true instincts when it came to style, and it actually paid off.”
A self-proclaimed “nerdy kid,” Emhoff quickly gravitated toward art and self-expression. After graduating from the Wildwood School, a private high school, in 2017, she enrolled at Parsons School of Design in New York, where she honed her craft in knitwear, blending traditional techniques with a playful, irreverent twist. Knitting everything from cosy cardigans to experimental pieces that pushed the boundaries of form and function, Emhoff quickly gained a niche following.
For her senior thesis exhibition, she presented a cadre of knitted and crocheted piece, including a pink and lavender bonnet with floppy dog ears. “Colour and childlike wonder is being contrasted with the reality of the childhood that I am trying to recreate for myself now as I grow,” she wrote in an artist’s statement.
Emhoff’s big break came the moment she took the stage at President Biden’s 2021 inauguration in that now famous Miu Miu coat with its crystal-encrusted shoulders that caught the eye of fashion insiders everywhere. It was clear even then that she represented an avant-garde, edgy brand of twenty-something that had thus far largely been absent from the political scene.
At the time, Vogue wrote that Emhoff's inauguration outfit "perfectly married her signature Brooklyn quirk with the solemnity of the occasion" and that Emhoff "wouldn't be hewing to any outdated notions of what a White House-adjacent young woman should dress like.”
Fashion retailer Lyst reported that, after footage of Emhoff went viral on Twitter and TikTo, Miu Miu saw a 455 per cent increase in internet searches six hours after the inauguration.
“Ella has such a point of view and a style that you don’t always think about in [Washington] D.C., because… D.C. has the worst style,” the designer Batsheva Hay later told Vogue. “Women in politics often have these feelings of having to suppress their style or their individuality to fit into these boxy suits.”
A week later, she had signed with IMG models. At the time, Emhoff was still at Parsons, graduating a few months later with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in May 2021. Harris posted a tribute to her stepdaughter on Twitter writing, "Congratulations to our daughter Ella on her graduation. I am so proud of you. Keep dreaming with ambition and there is nothing you cannot achieve,” signing off the post, “Love, Momala."
"I was pretty surprised when everything with IMG was happening because when I was younger, I never saw that as being part of my timeline,” Emhoff later told the New York Times. “As someone who, like a lot of young girls out there, had self-confidence issues, it is intimidating and scary to go into this world that is hyper-focused on you and the body.”
Balenciaga, Stella McCartney and the Met Gala – becoming fashion’s new muse
A month after the inauguration, Emhoff made her runway debut at a virtual event for Proenza Schouler during New York Fashion Week. Since then, she has walked runways for designers including Proenza, Balenciaga and Miu Miu and modelled for magazine like Vanity Fair.
In May 2021, Emhoff made her Met Gala debut, walking the famed carpet in a jaw-dropping Adidas by Stella McCartney red diamond mesh bodysuit with matching trousers, walking hand in hand with actress Julia Garner.
A few months later, she became the face of the Adidas by Stella McCartney campaign. "I feel that Stella McCartney represents the future of fashion," Emhoff told Vogue of the collaboration.
Harper's Bazaar named Emhoff one of their "icons" of the year for her impact on the world through her ideas and her art. She spoke with PEOPLE at the 2022 Harper's Bazaar Icons & Bloomingdale's 150th Anniversary about the honour.
"It's kind of shocking," she said. "This is an incredible honour and as someone who doesn't really think of herself like that it's nice reassurance. And makes me check myself and the way I perceive myself, so exciting."
In June 2024, she left IMG, switching to United Talent Agency (UTA), a company which works with clients including Kylie Minogue and Greta Gerwig. Last month, she attended about a dozen runway shows at New York Fashion week, sometimes walking the runway, and was spotted at parties for J Crew and Refinery29.
‘I’m a one-woman show’ – her cult knitwear brand
While Emhoff has long ingratiated herself in the circles of fashion’s elite, she has not abandoned her personal creative pursuits, specifically knitting. In the spring of 2021, she launched a limited collection of knitwear with designer Batsheva Hay. That same year, she founded her own brand Soft Hands.
Her first "knit drop," which included 20 pieces of handmade items, launched in 2022. Sold through exclusive drops and limited editions, the products sell out almost instantly.
"I'm a one-woman show," Emhoff told Women's Wear Daily in 2022. "It's been an extreme labour of love."
Last year, she launched The Soft Hands Knitting Club at The Standard in the East Village. "This is a dream come true. Come learn to knit, work on existing projects, or just hang out and have some snacks," Ella posted on Instagram about the club.
"A big part of my ability and inspiration to make knitwear is through community," she said in a separate interview. "So many formative moments [as an artist] come from the people you meet and the work you create in group settings. A lot of people coming to the [knit] clubs want that sense of place."
"I love the process of creating something with my hands," she told Marie Claire in August. "It feels meaningful and meditative in a way that mass production just can’t replicate."
Emhoff's designs continued to soar in popularity. In February 2023, Vogue announced that her knitwear would be showcased in a special pop-up event during New York Fashion Week. Just two months later, Emhoff's designs appeared on the cover of MINI V.
“That’s what gets me so excited about the whole industry,” Emhoff told Interview Magazine in 2021 . “I see my peers, especially people coming from New York who aren’t ‘models,’ but they’ll use their own image to amplify their work and their ideals. I think modelling now is not just about modelling, but it’s about creating space for people who do other things, whether it be art, activism, writing, any type of creation.”
‘First daughter of Bushwick’ – her relationships and artsy inner circle
Emhoff is often spotted around New York with the city’s creative types, often in the company of notable figures like Bailey Goldberg, the cult-favourite beanie designer. The two attended a Charli XCX concert at Madison Square Garden together over the summer, enjoying the event from a private box.
Her circle of friends also includes fashion insiders such as Washington Post critic Rachel Tashjian, whose wedding she attended in 2022, and old friends from her pre-political life, like Fifi Hodgkinson, a fellow Parsons graduate and one of Emhoff's roommates.
In August 2021, Emhoff confirmed her relationship with GQ writer Sam Hine during an interview with Vanity Fair. "We try not to worry too much about things that don't need to be worried about," Emhoff said of their relationship. "There's no sugarcoating it. Like, sometimes it's really hard. Life is not easy. So, talk about it, and then you do it together. In a relationship, you're sharing a life."
She also added that their perfect date was "a stop at the market, buying the wackiest produce, and figuring out what to cook with it."
In an interview with PEOPLE after Emhoff was awarded Harper’s Bazaar icon of the year, Hine said of his then girlfriend: "She does herself and that's the message. She is a true individual. And that's the most important. That's what being an icon really is." After two years together, the couple parted ways in summer 2023.
Supporting Kamala on the political stage – and facing the right-wing trolls
Since Kamala Harris announced her 2024 presidential campaign, Emhoff has shown consistent support for her stepmother. She was a noticeable presence at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in August, where on the first day, she donned a Harris-Walz baseball cap, and on the second day, held up a sign that read "Doug" in honor of her father, Doug Emhoff.
She even took to the stage at the DNC to support Harris. “Kamala came into my life when I was 14 — famously a very easy time for a teenager,” Emhoff said in her speech, standing alongside Meena Harris, Kamala’s niece, and Helena Hudlin, Kamala’s goddaughter.
“Like a lot of young people, I didn’t always understand what I was feeling, but no matter what, Kamala was there for me,” Emhoff said. “She was patient, caring and always took me seriously. She’s never stopped listening to me, and she’s not going to stop listening to all of us.”
Emhoff has also been quick to defend Harris against political attacks. In July 2024, after a Fox News interview resurfaced in which Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance criticised Harris for being "childless," Emhoff responded on social media.
"How can you be 'childless' when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and I," Emhoff wrote on her Instagram story. "I love my three parents."
Emhoff has also spoken positively about the relationship between her parents and Kamala. “They have good communication between the three of them,” she told The New York Times in 2021. “They are really a unit, like a three-person parenting squad.”
As Emhoff has gained notoriety, some on the right of politics have been quick to criticise her avant-garde, artsy style. After her appearance at the DNC, right-wing social media circles went into meltdown, mocking her for her appearance.
It is something that Emhoff has spoken about in the past. "When I was younger I would pluck my middle brow area, but I recently stopped and it's amazing," she said in a video for Good Morning Vogue in 2022. "I think everyone should just embrace their little unibrows."
Whatever the trolls have to say, with a modelling contract, successful business and cult-following under her belt, it is clear that Emhoff is having the last laugh.
