Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Mansur Gavriel
By the time Ella Emhoff took the DNC stage last week, Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter had already become one of the convention’s fashion stars. Her decidedly artsy outfits — a cream Helmut Lang top to complement her Harris-Walz hat, a Puppets and Puppets cookie bag to stash her disposable cameras — had charmed fashion-conscious Democrats and Bushwick art students all week, and her choice for last night, a light blue and white drop-waisted dress by popular TikTok designer Joe Ando, sealed the deal.
Ella’s presence in Chicago has also struck a chord with conservatives, and not just because some of them have lost their minds over Harris not having biological children. Her charisma, reminiscent of an art school graduate and Washington, has left some people in a tizzy – one panicked commenter took one look at her mullet and cow tattoos and concluded that she was “pretty much the nightmare scenario for most people with a daughter.”
For those more concerned about, I don’t know, their daughters’ reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, Emhoff’s role in Harris’ campaign falls somewhere between innocuous and adorable. When her stepmother was sworn in as vice president in 2021, Emhoff was quickly dubbed the “First Daughter of Bushwick,” a nod to her penchant for dressing like a humanities major meme and the fact that she was studying fashion at Parsons at the time. Since then, she’s cemented her place on the front lines of fashion week—and her role as a rising alt-fashion star who happens to visit the White House every now and then. Here’s what to know about fashion’s favorite political family member.
Ella grew up in LA as the daughter of entertainment lawyer Doug Emhoff and film producer Kerstin Emhoff. Her parents divorced in 2008 when Ella was 9 years old. She and her older brother Cole told the New York Just that in the period following his parents’ divorce, Doug lived in an apartment complex called Palazzo and relied on Craigslist to get the kids homemade meals from strangers since he couldn’t cook yet. Fortunately for everyone, this time was “really amicable.”
Another stroke of luck: Kamala and her cooking skills came along about five years later. Doug and Kamala went on a blind date in 2012, and Ella has spoken glowingly about her stepmother’s entry into the family – even for her not-quite-teenage self. “Kamala came into my life when I was 14,” she said during her speech at the Democratic Council, “a notoriously easy time for a teenager. Like many young people, I didn’t always understand what I was feeling, but no matter what, Kamala was always there for me. She was patient, caring, and always took me seriously.” Both children remember being interested in local politics and warning any friends who came over for dinner that they would be questioned about their ten-year plans.
They are also one of those families that call their father by his first name, but only because, as they say, Doug, like the word “Dad,” is one syllable and begins with “D.” Kerstin is Mom.
Although her father, Doug, has become the Biden administration’s — and the Harris-Waltz campaign’s — leading voice on American Judaism and combating anti-Semitism, Ella has been careful to keep a public distance. In response to a sudden flare-up of interest from Jewish publications after Biden’s inauguration, a spokesperson told the press in 2021 that Ella was “not Jewish” because she “didn’t grow up with it.”
After graduating high school in 2017, Ella moved to New York to study fine arts with a concentration in apparel and textiles at Parsons University. (And yes, she did live in Bushwick. Maybe she still lives there, but the Secret Service doesn’t want us to know.) From the second she stepped onto the Capitol steps in a jeweled Miu Miu coat, she was the hottest figure in politics—or, depending on how you look at it, the most politically connected woman in fashion. Barely a week after Biden’s inauguration, she signed with IMG Models; and soon she was popping up on the runways of Proenza Schouler and Balenciaga. By the time Biden’s first 100 days were over, Ella and her Secret Service team were all but assured front-row seats at Fashion Week.
At the Met Gala 2021.
Photo: Taylor Hill/WireImage
Arriving at Thom Browne during NYFW 2023.
Photo: Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
Although Emhoff has cited everything from vintage brands like JCPenney to school uniforms as her fashion influences, some considerations are more practical in nature – her brother Cole told the Just that after learning about one of her arm tattoos on Instagram, Kerstin “makes it a point to wear long sleeves when necessary.”
Sometime around the inauguration, Ella started GQ Writer Sam Hine – a menswear pal who matches all those Thom Browne kilts. They’ve made a number of stylish appearances together at Fashion Week after-parties and even the Grand Prix. Hine and Emhoff haven’t been seen together in a minute, and he seems to have disappeared from her Instagram feed, although neither has said anything publicly.
Posing at her 2023 pop-up “Ella Emhoff Likes to Knit”.
Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for IMG Fashion
If you haven’t noticed from her large collection of yarn accessories, Emhoff is an avid crafter. Much of her Instagram account is dedicated to her crochet art—she’s depicted cartoon animals, real dogs, wildlife, herself, and other parts of her sometimes sponsored life with needle and yarn. In April, she also showed a collection of knitting paintings at Gotham, a concept store and retail outlet where some of her knitted clothes were also for sale. She recently used some comically large yarn to crochet a basket for her dog, Jerry:
Joe Ando, the designer who designed Emhoff’s DNC dress, said in another post that she crocheted the rosette on the sleeve of the dress herself, because of course she did.
Last fall, Emhoff also started a knitting club called Soft Hands, which travels to various trendy spots in New York. She gives ticket buyers an introduction to knitting and lets them chat, network and share tips. It’s not all so cute, though—Ella, who has been knitting since she was six and learned to use a knitting machine at Parsons, once told the Cut she had “full-blown tendonitis” from all that needle-pulling and muscle loss that her doctor compared to that of “really old people.” Beauty is pain!
