By the time Ella Emhoff took the stage at the DNC last week, Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter had already become one of the convention’s style stars. Her distinctly crafty ensembles — an off-white Helmut Lang tank to round off her Harris-Walz hat, a Puppets and Puppets cookie purse to stash her disposable cameras — had been charming fashion-inclined Democrats and Bushwick art-school kids all week, and her choice for the final night, a pale-blue-and-white drop-waist gown made by popular TikTok designer Joe Ando, sealed the deal.
Ella’s presence in Chicago also hit a nerve for conservatives, and not just because some of them have lost their minds over the fact Harris doesn’t have biological children. Her art-school-graduate-meets-Washington vibe has sent some people into a real tizzy — one panicked commentator took one look at her curly 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 harmless and delightful. When her stepmother was sworn in as vice-president in 2021, Emhoff was swiftly dubbed the First Daughter of Bushwick, a nod to her penchant for dressing like a liberal-arts-kid meme and the fact that she was at the time studying fashion at Parsons. Since then, she’s cemented her spot on the front lines of Fashion Week — and her role as a rising alt-fashion star who happens to visit the White House every so often. Here’s what to know about the fashion world’s favorite political family member.
She grew up in L.A. and met Kamala when she was 14.
Ella grew up in L.A., the daughter of entertainment lawyer Doug Emhoff and film producer Kerstin Emhoff. Her parents got divorced in 2008 when Ella was 9. She and her older brother, Cole, told the New York Times that the period after their parents got divorced involved Doug living in an apartment complex called the Palazzo and relying on Craigslist to get the kids homemade meals from strangers, since he didn’t know how to cook yet. Luckily for all, this time was “really bonding.”
Also lucky: Kamala and her ease in the kitchen entered the picture about five years later. Doug and Kamala were set up on a blind date in 2012, and Ella has talked glowingly about her stepmother’s entry into the family — even for her preteen self. “Kamala came into my life when I was 14,” she said during her DNC speech, “famously a very easy time for a teenager. Like a lot of 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 kids recall being keyed into local politics and warning any friends who came over for dinner that they would be grilled about their ten-year plans.
Also, they are one of those houses that call their dad by his first name, but only because, they say, like the word “Dad,” Doug is one syllable and begins with “D.” Kerstin is Mom.
Though her father, Doug, has become the Biden administration’s — and the Harris-Walz’s campaign’s — leading voice on American Judaism and fighting antisemitism, Ella has been careful to publicly set herself apart. Responding to a sudden surge of interest from Jewish publications following Biden’s inauguration, a spokesperson told the press in 2021 that Ella is “not Jewish” because it’s “not something she grew up with.”
She’s a fashion mainstay.
After graduating high school in 2017, Ella decamped to New York to study fine arts at Parsons with a focus in apparel and textiles. (And yes, she really did live in Bushwick. She may still live there, but the Secret Service doesn’t want us to know that.) From the second she hit the Capitol steps in a bejeweled Miu Miu top coat, she’s been the most fashionable 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; before long, she was popping up on Proenza Schouler’s and Balenciaga’s runways. By the time Biden’s first 100 days were up, Ella and her Secret Service detail were pretty much guaranteed front-row seats at Fashion Week.
Though Emhoff has cited everything from vintage JCPenney to school uniforms as her fashion influences, some considerations are more practical — her brother Cole told the Times that after Kerstin found out about one of her arm tattoos on Instagram, she “banks on wearing long sleeves when she needs to.”
Sometime around the inauguration, Ella started dating GQ writer Sam Hine — a menswear boyfriend to go with all those Thom Browne kilts. They made a bunch of stylish appearances together at fashion week after-parties and even the Grand Prix. Hine and Emhoff have not been seen together in a minute, and he seems to have disappeared from her Instagram feed, though neither of them has said anything publicly.
She knits … hard.
If you haven’t noticed from her wide collection of yarn-based accessories, Emhoff is a big crafter. Much of her Instagram account is devoted to her crocheted art — she’s rendered cartoon animals, real dogs, wildlife, herself, and other bits of her sometimes-sponsored life via needle and yarn. She also showed a collection of knit paintings at Gotham, a concept-store-slash-dispensary, in April, where some of her knit clothing was also for sale. She recently used some comically large yarn to crochet a basket for her dog, Jerry:
Joe Ando, the designer who made Emhoff’s DNC dress, said in another post that she crocheted the rosette on the arm of the dress herself, because of course she did.
Last fall, Emhoff also launched a knitting club, Soft Hands, which travels around various trendy New York locations. She gives ticket-buyers a knitting 101 and lets them gab, socialize, and swap tips. It’s not all so cutesy, though — Ella, who’s been knitting since she was 6 and learned to use a knitting machine while at Parsons, once told the Cut she has “full-on tendonitis” from all that needling, and has a level of muscle deterioration her doctor likened to “really old people.” Beauty is pain!
