Two days after National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, the 22-year-old who performed her poem “The Hill We Climb” at Joe Biden’s Inauguration, was signed by IMG Models, the international modeling agency tapped Vice President Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff. On Thursday, IMG announced the Brooklyn-based fashion student and designer as the newest member of its roster.
“Ella communicates this moment in time,” Ivan Bart, the president of IMG Models, told The New York Times this week. “There’s a cheekiness and a joy she exudes.” Later, Bart told the publication that the moment Emhoff appeared on screen at the Inauguration — clad in a long, crystal-covered Miu Miu coat with a statement collar, he thought, “Wow, she’s communicating fashion.”
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Emhoff — or as the internet likes to call her, the “First Daughter of Bushwick” — isn’t new to the fashion scene. She is a senior at Parsons School of Design in New York City, where she majors in fine arts with a focus in textiles, and a knitwear designer with a significant following on Instagram. What’s more, she’s already been modeling for a year, per The Times, but with representation from a smaller agent. Now with an agency that lists names like Alex Wek, Chanel Iman, and Ashley Graham backing her, it won’t be long before we'll see her everywhere.
The 21-year-old first caught our attention on November 7, when she arrived in Wilmington, DE, alongside thousands of excited (and relieved) Biden-Harris supporters, to congratulate her stepmother, as well as now-President Joe Biden, on their big win. For the occasion, Emhoff chose a pinstripe suit from The Frankie Shop, a trend-forward fashion brand and multi-brand retailer with brick-and-mortar shops in Paris and Manhattan’s Lower East Side. On her lapel was an American flag pin; on her feet, lug-soled loafers. The look was both appropriate for the occasion and representative of Emhoff’s style. (She told The Times that her uniform consists of black trousers and a white tank top.) Not long after, rumors swirled that she might knit her own suit for the Inauguration. Naturally, people online (myself included) got excited.
She ended up wearing a burgundy, three-quarter sleeve dress from New York-based indie label Batsheva, with her now-viral Miu Miu coat on over it. A black headband by Loeffler Randal that matched her handbag, leather gloves, and face mask completed the look — which was styled by Jill Lincoln and Jordan Johnson, according to The Times.
According to the publication, Bart first set his sights on Emhoff prior to the Inauguration — at a fundraising event during Harris’ presidential primaries in the summer of last year: “I noticed her as soon as she walked in the door.”