See model Ella Emhoff walk her first runway show after viral inauguration fame
Ella Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter who went viral for her fashionable look at President Biden’s inauguration in January, made her modeling debut Thursday in a runway show for Proenza Schouler.
The Parsons School of Design art student participated in a short film for the American brand’s fall-winter 2021 collection during the latest pandemic-edition of New York Fashion Week.
“thank you thank you thank you @proenzaschouler,” the 21-year-old wrote on Instagram sharing her ensembles Thursday, adding, “couldn’t have worked with a better duo <3 and [photographer] @hunterabrams cause you are simply a shining light.”
Emhoff modeled three looks: a long, gray wool coat with fluffy shoulders; a navy leather coat; and a pantsuit. The film also featured Meadow Walker, daughter of late actor Paul Walker.
The daughter of Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, said that it was her “first-ever fashion experience” and she was nervous during the shoot, which took place recently at the Parrish Museum in Water Mill, N.Y.
“I definitely lost a little sleep the night before,” she said in a talk with the designers. “I’m walking for the first time, I’m in this professional environment for the first time ... the anticipation was really high.”
Her appearance had a bit of kismet about it too: Proenza Schouler design duo Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough also attended Parsons and launched their brand from their senior thesis collection. Emhoff, an aspiring knitwear and textiles designer, is working on her senior thesis at the famed New York school.
“She kind of reminded us of of our friends and ourselves in a lot of ways back when we were at Parsons,” McCollough said. Hernandez added that Emhoff represented “this idea of a new beginning, a whole new chapter” in American life and culture and described her as an “ambassador of the new moment.”
Inauguration Day standouts are a hot commodity in modeling as Ella Emhoff, the VP’s stepdaughter, signs with IMG days after poet Amanda Gorman did the same.
Fashionphiles first took notice of Emhoff’s design sensibilities at Biden’s inauguration. That’s when she made a sartorial splash at the Capitol in a white-collared Batsheva dress under a jeweled Miu Miu statement coat.
Like youth poet Amanda Gorman, Emhoff signed with model management agency IMG Models days later, though, she said, she had met Ivan Bart, the president of IMG Models and Fashion, more than a year ago.
Photographer Abrams documented Emhoff’s first meeting with Hernandez and McCollough and her NYFW debut with “backstage” shots for Vogue posted on Instagram. Abrams also had kind words for the rising star, praising her as a “young dynamic woman that I had such a fun day with.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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