In 2017, Emhoff graduated from Wildwood School, where she was a member of the swimming and basketball teams.[14][4] She was a student at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, where she majored in fine arts with a concentrated focus in apparel and textiles and graduated in 2021.[14][10]
Emhoff designs jackets, hats, coats, and knitted shorts, which she sells from her Instagram account and her website.[11][12][15] She also sells ceramics, paintings, and drawings from her website.[16][17]
In January 2021, Emhoff signed with IMG Models Worldwide, an international modeling agency based in New York City.[10][18][19] She has gained attention from the BBC and the New York Times for having tattoos and not shaving her armpit hair.[3][20] The agency announced her contract on Twitter.[21] Earlier, she was featured in an editorial for the independent fashion magazine Buffalo Zine.[10][12][22] Viola, her modeling agent, signed her to his agency in September 2019.
Emhoff is a member of The 3% Movement, an organization focused on increasing the number of women creative directors in the United States.[23]
In 2021, she founded Soft Hands, a company focused on exploring "opportunities in fashion, design, creative consulting, and hosting events."[24] Her mother taught her how to knit at age six.[25] In 2023, she debuted "Ella Emhoff Likes to Knit," a pop-up presentation at New York Fashion Week. In 2024, she exhibited knit paintings at Gotham, a gallery in New York City.[26] On August 29, 2024, Emhoff announced the temporary suspension of her Soft Hands Knitting Club due to security concerns related to her stepmother's presidential campaign. In a video posted to Instagram, Emhoff explained that she needed to pause the club's activities to protect herself and other members.[27][28]
Emhoff (right) and her brother Cole (left) at the 59th Presidential Inauguration on January 20, 2021Emhoff with her father Doug Emhoff, stepmother Kamala Harris, and brother Cole, in June 2024
She is a supporter of LGBT rights, particularly as an advocate for the rights of transgender people.[12] In 2020, she announced she would support the organization For the Gworls, a black, transgender-led collective that raises money to help black transgender people pay for rent, gender-affirming surgery, travel, and medical care.[12][17][30]
Emhoff received international media attention at the inauguration due to her outfits, including a dress she co-designed with Batsheva Hay and a jewel-encrusted Miu Miu coat.[3][10][36]Vogue wrote that Emhoff's inauguration outfit "perfectly married her signature Brooklyn quirk with the solemnity of the occasion" and that Emhoff "wouldn't be hewing to any outdated notions of what a White House-adjacent young woman should dress like."[3][37] After the inauguration, Emhoff's Instagram following increased from 50,000 followers to over 300,000 in less than a week.[3][10][38] Fashion retailer Lyst reported that, after footage of Emhoff went viral on Twitter and TikTok,[39][40] Miu Miu saw a 455% increase in internet searches six hours after the inauguration.[41] She also received attention for the skirt, tie, and Thom Browne coat she wore to the national COVID-19 memorial in Washington, D.C., the night before the inauguration.[10][42]
Emhoff previously dated GQ fashion writer Sam Hine.[43]
↑ Mihalik, Lily; Pesce, Anthony; Welsh, Ben (2016). "Live California election results". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
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