Ella Emhoff is not your typical twenty-something. She is a designer, model, and artist who has earned an astounding amount of money on her collection of knitted portraits. She has walked in New York Fashion Week and rubbed shoulders with A-listers like Anne Hathaway. During the winter, she skis in St. Moritz, where royals like Prince Edward and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, hit the powder. During the summer, she has been spotted sipping wine on yachts off the coast of St. Tropez.
Although Ella is an accomplished career woman in her own right, she is still far from being the most successful person in her family. After all, her stepmother, Kamala Harris, became the vice president of the United States in 2021, making Ella’s father, Doug Emhoff, the first second gentleman in history. Since then, V.P. Harris has been nominated by the Democratic Party to run for president of the United States. As Kamala and Doug have grown more influential on a political scale, Ella has found herself thrust increasingly in the spotlight. Rather than flounder under all the pressure of the media attention, though, Ella has risen to the occasion and begun to find a political voice of her own.
Of course, Ella was not always the high-profile creative that we see today. Not long ago, she was an enthusiastic toddler whose biggest brush with fashion occurred in her mom’s closet. Since then, Ella has undergone a stunning transformation that has indelibly altered the course of her life — and potentially the future of the art world, as well.
Ella Emhoff always had an interest in fashion
These days, Ella Emhoff is known as something as a fashion genius. However, like any other rising star, she had to begin her stylistic education with the basics. And, according to a 2021 interview with Proenza Schouler founders Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Ella first explored her passion for fashion by raiding her mother’s wardrobe. “For a really long time when I was younger, I wanted to be a designer,” Ella revealed. “My mom was super into fashion, so I would always play dress-up in her closet.”
At that point, it was impossible to know that Ella would eventually pursue a career in the field. As a child, Ella’s initial experimentation with clothes was more focused on fun than haute couture, and many of her first outfits were quite silly. In her conversation with McCollough and Hernandez, she recalled “just clomping around, everything too big.” As time went on, though, Ella would begin to take her interest in fashion a little bit more seriously.
She was a teen when her dad, Doug Emhoff, married Kamala Harris
Later, during her speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Ella emphasized this point once again. “Kamala came into my life when I was 14,” she recalled, before joking, “Famously, a very easy time for a teenager.”
As tricky as Ella’s initial relationship with Kamala was, it did not take long for the two to grow closer. “Like a lot of young people, I didn’t always understand what I was feeling, but no matter what, Kamala was there for me. She was patient, caring, and always took me seriously,” Ella said. Although accepting a new stepparent is rarely easy, Ella was able to forge a strong bond with her stepmother — even giving her the nickname “Momala” to symbolize their close relationship and Kamala’s budding family life.
In high school, Ella went to London to study design
Although they had divorced by the time that Ella reached high school, Kerstin and Doug did everything in their power to provide educational opportunities for their daughter. As such, it was decided that Ella would spend time in London to study design at the world-renowned arts school, Central Saint Martins.
In her sit-down with Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Ella opened up about this fantastic experience. “I spent two summers out there. It was definitely fun. It definitely exposed me to the intensity of design school,” she shared. Ultimately, the time that Ella spent immersed in such a competitive fashion environment made her want to pursue a slightly broader educational path. “In my senior year, I stepped back [from fashion] a little bit and went more towards the fine arts realm,” she revealed.
As for Ella’s parents, they did their best to support her pivot in interests. Chatting with Ella and her older brother, Cole Emhoff, in an interview for Glamour, Doug explained, “I’ve tried to be responsive to what you both needed.”
Ella Emhoff dove into the arts at Parsons School of Design
If Ella Emhoff was able to explore her artistic interest in high school, this dynamic only grew when she headed off to Parsons School of Design in New York City. At Parsons, Ella had the chance to pursue a degree in fine arts alongside a cohort of other deeply artistic young people.
While immersed in this vibrant environment, Ella underwent a fashion transformation. As displayed on her Instagram, Ella’s outfits preceding her time at Parson’s involved a lot of camisoles and jeans. After heading off to school, though, we see her add a number of interesting pieces to her wardrobe. Beanies, oversized coats, and her signature wire-rimmed glasses began to appear in her photos. All in all, this hints that Ella was not just interested in studying artistic theory but also in applying that knowledge to her personal style, as well.
She began to experiment with tattoos
As she was undergoing her collegiate style transformation, Ella Emhoff also began to experiment with artistic tattoos. This was especially true during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic when Ella decided to give herself a bit of ink. In an interview with Garage, the vice president’s stepdaughter explained, “I did the classic: I did my dog’s name, and I did a little flower. I recently did my first big boy: [a] salmon fish with a flower hanging out of its mouth” (via Popsugar).
She continued to add to her collection, getting work done by various tattoo artists. In October 2020, she approached Nice Try Tattoo co-founder Ella Sklaw, who helped create a humorous piece of Halloween skin art — a multi-colored cake sporting candles that read “boo.” Ella also added a cow, a breakfast plate, a crab claw, and a rabbit — among others — to her assortment of body art. By 2021, when journalists from the New York Times asked her how many tattoos she had in total, Ella couldn’t quite say. “Maybe around 18 now,” she guessed before hinting that her parents “may not know about” them all.
Ella started designing knitwear
Of course, Ella Emhoff’s time at Parsons School of Design was not all about artsy clothes and new tattoos. For Ella, art school was largely about expanding her ability to create interesting pieces — including knitwear. As she told Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, “I did a course in machine knitting at Parsons.” This class, she said, helped her fuse her interest in fashion with her passion for the fine arts.
During the pandemic, Ella found that knitting gave her the stability that she needed during an uncertain time. “I love knitting, and especially during quarantine, being able to do that 12 hours a day was super, super nice,” she said in the same interview. This experience of creating textiles helped Ella realize that she wanted to pursue a career in fashion, after all. “I love creating clothing … It’s super satisfying to be able to, like, dream up something, make it, and see people wear it,” she added.
With this in mind, Ella ultimately decided to put together a knitwear exhibition as a part of her senior thesis. As she wrote in the artist’s statement she submitted to Parsons, “Creating knitwear and textile pieces is soothing to me in a way which allows me to handle the hard themes of childhood/adolescents that I am exploring.”
Ella Emhoff made a splash at the 2021 inauguration
On January 20, 2021, Ella Emhoff’s stepmother, Kamala Harris, became the vice president of the United States. To show her Momala some support, Ella attended the inauguration. For the special day, she wore an iconic red button-up dress by designer Batsheva Hay paired it with a daring jacket that turned heads all over the country. The ensemble drew a tidal wave of media attention and catapulted Ella into the spotlight. Even major media outlets, like Vanity Fair, lauded her as one of fashion’s rising stars.
In the wake of this intense moment, Ella found herself being interviewed by Elle and Vogue. She was offered a contract with IMG models. And, X — then known as Twitter — absolutely loved her. Despite this instant rise to fame, the process of putting together Ella’s inauguration outfit has been described as something natural. In conversation with Vogue, Hay recalled, “Ella liked a certain style that she’d found online on Matches, and I looked through some of the new things I was working on—samples and stuff—and we came up with a great version of it in a different fabric.” Ella added, “I was going for something girlier, to embrace my feminine side.”
Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter organized a knitwear pop-up
As Ella Emhoff’s popularity grew, so did her knitting career. In early 2021, she launched a small knitwear line that included just five pieces. These initial products included a purse, pair of shorts, two sweater vests, and a sleeveless dress. As reported by The New York Times, three items from Ella’s knitwear collection sold out within a half-hour of their release.
Encouraged by this initial success, Ella went on to organize a knitwear pop-up in 2023. However, rather than displaying her clothes on models as is custom in the fashion industry, Ella went for something a little more creative. Using green astroturf, the young designer created an indoor landscape, complete with rolling hills and flowers made of bows. She then dressed mannequins in knitwear and arranged them on the scenery — so that they appeared to be enjoying a casual afternoon in the grass.
“I started as a fine artist, and now I’m in fashion and having a runway show doesn’t make sense for me,” Ella told Vogue during the event. “I need it to be an immersive experience. I have a very clear vision of where and how my knits exist, and I feel like this is the only way to translate that.”
She was invited to her first New York Fashion Week
In the aftermath of Kamala Harris’ vice presidential inauguration, Ella Emhoff’s career took off. That fall, she was invited to model a ready-to-wear collection by Proenza Schouler at New York Fashion Week. For a recent art school graduate, this represented a major opportunity. It also gave her a lot to think about.
Speaking with The New York Times, Ella admitted that she hadn’t always seen herself as a potential model. “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,” she said. However, at the end of the day, Ella realized that the fashion industry was becoming more inclusive. And, she was excited to be “part of that change,” as she put it in her interview.
Proenza Schouler co-founders, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, were excited to bring Ella to her first fashion week. “She represents the story we wanted to tell with the collection. It’s the beginning of a whole new chapter in American history, in the kind of clothes we’re wearing and are attracted to. She’s the breath of fresh air,” Hernandez explained in a show preview (via WWD). In the end, Ella stunned on the runway.
Her Met Gala debut was a show-stopper
It’s no secret that Ella Emhoff lives a lavish life, but many of the perks of her position came in the fall of 2021. Immediately after finishing her first New York Fashion Week, Ella made her Met Gala debut. In a unique interpretation of that year’s “In America: The Lexicon of Fashion” theme, Ella wore a sparkly red top and bright crimson pants – items from Adidas by Stella McCartney.
Chatting with Elle about her ongoing collaboration with McCartney, Ella expressed her admiration for the designer’s commitment to environmentalism and sustainability. “Stella’s really good at pushing for industry change, and also, her style is great. It’s fun but also sophisticated. You actually want to wear it, not just because it’s sustainable, but because it’s cool,” she said.
In the same conversation, Ella admitted that McCartney had played a major role in her own aspirations as a designer. Apparently, the older designer’s work had inspired Ella to incorporate more sustainable fabrics in her own designs. “It’s made me think more resourcefully on the ways that I want to package things … It’s made me ask myself, ‘Is this cool and is this helpful?’ It’s been a big influence,” Ella said.
Ella presented her four-figure knitted artwork
The more that Ella Emhoff matured as a career woman, the more she began to blend her interests in knitting and the fine arts. By 2024, she had begun to use knitting not just as a way to design clothing but also as a method for creating plastic arts. This was particularly evident in April of that year when Ella displayed a collection of knitted “paintings” at Gotham — a cannabis dispensary that also occasionally functions as a gallery. Ella’s pieces included several knitted self-portraits — one of which was listed for $5,500 — in addition to still life images of puppies, purses, and shoes.
In a conversation with the New York Post, Ella said that this pivot from fashion to wall art was largely a reaction to what her fans wanted. “I found that no one really wanted to wear all of this stuff, because it’s kind of crazy and loud, but they liked looking at it. So then I just started experimenting. And now I’m here,” she said. With this reality in mind, Ella’s goal shifted from creating fashion trends to producing something beautiful to look at. She began to make still life images of objects that illicit joy. “These are all just objects that I like, and I like looking at, but they obviously evoke some kind of happy emotion from people, because it’s a recognizable object in yarn,” Ella explained.
Ella Emhoff found her political voice
Ella Emhoff may seem like any other free-spirited artist, but the truth is that she is part of a political family. Because her stepmother is running for president of the United States, as of this writing, Ella has found herself surrounded by more media attention than ever. And, as the spotlight grows brighter, the young artist has learned how to use her voice in political situations.
This was particularly true when certain footage of Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance went viral. In a 2021 conversation with Tucker Carlson on Fox, Vance referred leading female Democrats, like Kamala, as “childless cat ladies.” After seeing this clip, Ella was quick to clap back with a since-expired Instagram story, which read, “How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and I?” Ella also added, “I love my three parents” (via Newsweek).
Kamala’s stepdaughter also made a huge splash at the 2024 DNC. At the event, Ella gave a heartwarming speech about her beloved Momala. Naturally, though, Ella is an artist at heart and ultimately wasn’t afraid to make a statement with her clothes. In fact, Ella surprised the DNC with a stylistic u-turn that went from a casual “Harris Walz” camo cap one night to a light purple, tulle-skirted ensemble on another. We look forward to seeing how her style will continue to evolve as her stepmother’s campaign continues.
