Ella Emhoff, Kamala Harriss stepdaughter, signs with IMG Models – The Guardian

The vice-president Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, has signed with IMG Models – home of Gigi and Bella Hadid – after her appearance at the presidential inauguration.

Emhoff’s two looks – a jewel-encrusted Miu Miu coat and a merlot-coloured Batsheva dress – went viral during the televised ceremony.

“It is intimidating and scary to go into this world that is hyperfocused on you and [your] body,” she told the New York Times. Emhoff, who already models for a smaller agency, said: “I was pretty surprised when everything with IMG was happening because when I was younger I never saw that as being part of my timeline.”

Emhoff, who has described herself as having “really weird tattoos and kind of a funky haircut”, joins the inauguration poet Amanda Gorman at the agency.

Ivan Bart, president of IMG Models, said: “Ella communicates this moment in time. There’s a cheekiness and a joy she exudes.” He said when he saw her at the inauguration, he thought, “Wow, she’s communicating fashion.”

Emhoff, who has been nicknamed “the first daughter of Bushwick”, is studying fine art and textiles at New York’s Parsons School of Design and plans to be a fashion designer. “I think the goal is definitely to have my own knitwear brand, label, whatever you call it,” she told Vice in November. Emhoff sells her designs from her website although she is currently not taking any commissions.

She said she wanted to create an online space where she could “have a bunch of different pieces that I’m constantly creating and doing my commission-based work and having that all be in a shop.

“I’d like to try to stay a one-woman show but I think as stuff has started ramping up with my knitwear, it’s been harder. I’m only one woman, I can only make so many commissions while I’m also trying to just enjoy life.”