Ella Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter, made her surprise runway debut on Thursday after becoming a fashion hit during January’s presidential inauguration.
Following the announcement that she signed with IMG Models following the ceremony last month, Doug Emhoff’s 21-year-old daughter, the second gentleman, entered the catwalk during a socially distant performance at Proenza Schouler’s New York Fashion Week.
“I definitely lost some sleep the night before,” admitted Emhoff during a conversation with brand designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. “I mean, I’m walking for the first time, I’m in a professional environment for the first time … It was an epic first experience with the world of fashion.”
In digital video, she travels through the Parrish Art Museum in New York in three different looks.
The first saw her combining her metal-rimmed glasses, now her trademark, with torn gray pants and jacket, a black pipe bag and cream-colored slippers. The second was a turtleneck with yellow tie-dye swirls and black pants under a black leather coat. The third was a black wool blazer with matching pants. They were all very different looks from his stunning Miu Miu coat, which went viral during the inauguration.
“For a long time, when I was younger, I wanted to be a designer,” she said according to CNN, “so I took it a little more seriously, I started taking courses at Central Saint Martins in two summers… It definitely exposed me to the intensity from the design school. “
On her Instagram page, Emhoff is holding a raffle to win some pink striped pants she has knitted, with proceeds going to two charities that provide help to black transgender women, For The Gworls and Project Okra.
“I want to see boys, girls, people, everyone wearing colorful striped pants or my dresses,” she said during New York Fashion Week: The Talks. “I think it would be great.”