Ella Emhoff, the stepdaughter of US Vice President Kamala Harris, made her runway debut in a video released Thursday, a month after her outfit at the presidential inauguration went viral.
The 21-year-old art student and fledgeling model walked the runway for the Proenza Schouler label as part of New York Fashion Week. The parade was filmed a few weeks ago, with the coronavirus pandemic ruling out a traditional show.
Emhoff wore three different looks for Proenza Schouler: a long grey jacket with matching slashed trousers, a black trench coat and a dark pantsuit.
“I have to say I was a little nervous,” said Emhoff, during a talk with two of Proenza Schouler’s designers on the New York Fashion Week website.
“I definitely lost a little sleep the night before. I’m walking for the first time, I’m in this professional environment for the first time … It was a very epic first experience with the fashion world.”
Emhoff also opened up about her career goals and what she hopes the future of fashion will look like.
“For a really long time when I was younger I wanted to be a designer. Then I took it a little more seriously, I started taking courses at Central Saint Martins over two summers,” she said referring to the London-based art school. “It definitely exposed me to the intensity of design school.”
“I want to see guys, girls, people, everyone wearing striped colorful pants or my dresses. I think that’d be great,” she added.
Emhoff is the daughter of Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff and his first wife Kerstin Mackin.
In January, she signed with the prestigious modelling agency IMG Models after she wore a Miu Miu coat to Joe Biden’s and Harris’s swearing-in ceremony. The final-year student at the Parsons School of Design in New York is also a knitwear designer.
On Thursday, she released a collection of five items that included two sweater vests and a long striped dress.
Only one of each item was made and they quickly sold out on the website Mall, which is an online marketplace for emerging designers.
