On Thursday, Ella Emhoff, the stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala Harris, made her official runway debut for American label Proenza Schouler at New York Fashion Week.
Like many brands, Proenza Schouler presented its Fall-Winter 2021 womenswear collection digitally this year due to ongoing health and safety concerns due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The video features the concrete perimeter of the Parrish Art Museum in New York as a makeshift runway.
In a recorded interview for NYFW at Spring Studios in New York, Emhoff revealed that she was nervous the night before her runway debut.
‘I definitely lost a little sleep the night before. I mean I’m walking for the first time, I’m in a professional environment for the first time… It was a very epic first experience with the fashion world.’ she added.
Emhoff first caught the public’s attention at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, when her embellished Miu Miu coat went viral and made her the event’s sartorial breakout star.
Shortly after the ceremony, she joined IMG Models. The agency’s formidable directory includes supermodels Karlie Kloss, and Gisele Bündchen as well as Bella and Gigi Hadid.
Emhoff also made that same day her debut as an emerging knitwear designer. She released her first clothing collection, which consisted of a five-piece collection of knitwear.
The collection aims to comfort, inspire, and empower the modern-day woman. The knitwear designs were featured long fringed sleeves, soft padded slippers, leather socks.
Only one of each item were made. Within 30 minutes, three of the five pieces had sold out.
Emhoff, the 21-year-old fashion student, who is currently a senior at Parsons School of Design in New York, has been knitting for 13 years and envisions her designs as unisex.
