Ella Emhoff, Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter and the biological daughter of lawyer Doug Emhoff, is the archetypal Gen-Z fashion icon. Since wearing a Miu Miu coat at Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, Ella caught and held the attention of fashion commentators around the world throughout her stepmom’s time in office and beyond. She signaled a new era of eccentric and trendy dressing from the children of politicians in stark contrast to the Trumps’ outdated fashion trends. Ella has a chameleonic style that is truly her own.

Advertisement

Whether it’s her knitwear or catwalk couture, predicting Ella Emhoff’s next style move is a fool’s errand. However, Ella told Elle that her frequent sartorial switch-ups aren’t about what’s in style, but about feeling good. “I was really into doing my own thing and being really comfortable in my own body, you know? I never saw myself as a ‘fashion person.'”

But at least in the eyes of the public, Ella Emhoff is a fashion person. She’s ever-present on Instagram showing off her threads, both homemade and store-bought, and frequents the front row of high-end fashion shows. She’s also earned a modeling contract with IMG, which has led her to become the face of Stella McCartney. From monochrome outfits to loud florals, no one can accuse Ella Emhoff of being “an outfit repeater.” Instead, her style is constantly evolving.

Advertisement

In 2015, Ella Emhoff went to England and wore a very American graphic hoodie. In an Instagram post of her pictured outside Buckingham Palace, Emhoff wrote, “i met the #queen today… she was aight.” Perhaps this foreshadowed her family’s ascent to becoming one of the most powerful in the world. Emhoff’s 2015 style, however, was far more of the people as she wore a black and yellow graphic hockey-style hoodie. It was the look of a tourist, not someone who would later walk runways.

Advertisement

Since 2015, the graphic hoodie has become a haute couture item. The garment was taken from gym locker rooms and deconstructed to be fit for the runways of Paris, notably by Demna Gvasalia during his time at Vetements. However, Emhoff’s look was very mundane, in a way that suggested she was just the girl next door and the average American teen. Her hoodie was not exactly an $800 high-fashion number. This 2015 look made her transformation into fashion’s go-to girl all the more surprising.

In 2017, Ella Emhoff took to Instagram to debut a more mature look — one that was synonymous with a certain social media site. The model shared an un-captioned post that let her outfit do the talking. The post showed Emhoff wearing a ribbed grey turtleneck and large spherical black earrings. It looked like she’d walked straight out of the infamous “Tumblr kids standing next to a wall” meme.

Advertisement

The Tumblr look that Emhoff captured is defined by a heady mix of fishnet tights, knee socks, Thrasher tees, black skinny jeans, and last but not least, Dr. Martens. It’s a look that says I have The 1975’s self-titled album on repeat while adding the Valencia filter to my iPhone 4S photos. Although the look dates itself, it’s one that saw Emhoff following the “Tumblr girl” aesthetics, much as the likes of Kylie Jenner did. As stylist Marcus Cuffie put it when speaking to The Cut, “If I didn’t have Tumblr, I never would have gotten into fashion.”

Emhoff’s 2017 look showed a marked transformation from her 2015 trip to England. She was experimenting with trendy styles before she eventually became a trendsetter herself. However, her most telling fashion volte-face came in 2020.

Advertisement

Ella Emhoff first came to public attention at the 2020 Democratic National Convention (DNC). Emhoff took to the screen to offer words of support for her stepmom, Kamala Harris, during her and Joe Biden’s successful bid for office. She called Harris “the world’s greatest stepmom” and spoke about the former vice president’s influence on her family. “You’re a rock, not just for our dad, but for three generations of our big, blended family,” she said (via People).

Advertisement

But Emhoff’s words were not the only thing that grabbed potential voters’ attention. Her white blouse (with a large frilly collar) and uncharacteristically straight hair with bangs demonstrated that Emhoff could adapt her style for her setting. The blouse was classy and timeless but simple enough to let her bangs shine. In 2021, the bang was seriously en vogue and Emhoff was right on trend with her new ‘do. “We’re all kind of in this period of change, looking within and thinking ‘Who am I right now?'” hairstylist Sal Salcedo told Refinery29. “So the bang makes sense because it’s one of the easiest makeovers that changes your hair and your energy: You can keep your long hair or you can go short, but a little bang automatically gives you a taste of a new you.”

Advertisement

The 2020 DNC was not only the moment Ella Emhoff became a public figure but also cemented her as a fashionista with a finger on the pulse of what’s popular.

In 2020, during the throes of the coronavirus pandemic, Ella Emhoff showed she was not just about wearing clothes but also making them. In an Instagram post, she showed off a ribbed hand-knitted pink and blue dress she made during her fine arts major. It was an unexpected technicolor transformation from a woman who’d previously worn a lot of monochrome. As a student at the Parsons School of Design in New York City with a focus on apparel and textiles, Emhoff showed that she didn’t slack off on her vocation while locked indoors.

Advertisement

Ella Emhoff wasn’t the only person proud of her designs. After her graduation in 2021, her pantsuit-wearing stepmom Kamala Harris took to X to praise her stepdaughter, saying, “Congratulations to our daughter Ella on her graduation. I am so proud of you. Keep dreaming with ambition and there is nothing you cannot achieve.”

Emhoff’s designs arrived right on trend as knitting became the lockdown hobby du jour. Even Team GB’s Tom Daley got in on the act between dives at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Emhoff’s love of knitting did not end after lockdown measures were lifted, as her post in 2020 was the start of a transformation that would come to define her style.

It wasn’t until Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021 that Ella Emhoff’s style became notable among the fashion commentariat. The then-second daughter wore a long sparkling plaid Miu Miu coat, showing that she was one of the most fashion-forward kids in political families. It was a look that got people talking.

Advertisement

As one user on X remarked, “The shoulder embellishments on Ella Emhoff’s coat? I smell a style icon in the making.” Another declared, “The only fabric I will pledge allegiance to is Ella Emhoff’s glittering coat” (via the Independent). The coat put the spotlight on Emhoff and took it off fellow attendees like Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez, who wore Schiaparelli and Chanel respectively. Quite a feat for someone in her early 20s.

But it wasn’t all about the coat. Underneath the Miu Miu, Emhoff wore a long purple Batsheva dress and black platform boots. The look confirmed Emhoff’s style as chameleonic — in the sense that she adapts to her varying situations aptly (not that she blends into the background) — and can jump from left-field dressed-up looks to colorful knitwear seamlessly (if you pardon the pun).

Advertisement

Ella Emhoff’s limelight-stealing look at the 2021 presidential inauguration put her on the list for high-end fashion shows worldwide. In September 2021, she was in the front row for Eckhaus Latta’s show at New York Fashion Week (NYFW), serving a darker look than those previously associated with her style. During her time at Parsons’, Emhoff’s outfits were eye-poppingly colorful. But things changed after her graduation. Her all-black outfit at the show signaled monochrome becoming a staple of her ever-changing wardrobe.

Advertisement

In 2021, Emhoff was just getting started in the fashion world — having signed with IMG Models earlier that year — but she was not content to stick with the style that got her the contract. Her look, courtesy of the bicoastal brand, consisted of a quilted skirt, chunky leather loafers, and a distressed Eckhaus Latta branded long-sleeve tee.

Alongside famous singer Rosalía and pop icon Troye Sivan, Emhoff, having taken her place as the daughter of America’s second family in January of the same year, now took her rightful place among New York’s fashion set. She also bolstered her reputation as a model, having walked for Proenza Schouler just a day earlier. September 2021’s NYFW was more like EFW (Emhoff Fashion Week). But that wasn’t all Emhoff would get up to that September.

Advertisement

Ditching her shadowy look from Eckhaus Latta’s show earlier in September 2021, the lavish Ella Emhoff reinvented herself again with an eye-catching and futuristic red ‘fit. When attending her first Met Gala in September 2021, she wore an outfit that was far from the typical tuxedos and bodacious ballgowns. Taking the road less traveled, Emhoff wore an all-red bodysuit by Stella McCartney with slicked-back hair, adding Adidas by Stella McCartney — for whom Emhoff fronted a campaign — Earthlight trainers, and accessorizing with Cartier jewelry and Stella McCartney Eyewear. In a total departure from her all-black look earlier the same month, Emhoff had the style of a time traveler who’d come to the Met Gala in 2021 to show what would be on the runways in 2091.

Advertisement

The gala’s theme was “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” a theme that gave Emhoff the chance to go for a safe option — as many did — particularly as a debutante enmeshed in the sartorially conservative political establishment. But Emhoff understood that the Met Gala is any budding fashionista’s chance to prove themselves … and she did. In early 2022, red was declared one of the biggest color trends of the season so the model-cum-knitter demonstrated that she could not only follow the trends but help create them too. What she was going to wear next was anybody’s guess.

By 2022 Ella Emhoff had made a name for herself as someone who reinvented her style faster than the weather changes. Her look at Paris Fashion Week once again showed another side to her style. She attended Miu Miu’s show wearing a look from their fall 2022 ready-to-wear collection, again with an outfit that was dedicated to one color. This time, Emhoff wore a cropped blue motorcycle jacket and Miu Miu-branded high-waisted wide-leg jeans with a natural curly hairstyle and circular glasses.

Advertisement

The look proved yet again that Emhoff is a malleable fashion force. She was also spotted at the Courrèges and Loewe fashion shows during her week by the Seine. Emhoff had come a long way from the dark-shaded hoodies and turtlenecks of her teens, and was now wearing clothes that were not even out yet. Soon, she would find the brands that spoke to her most.

Alongside boyfriend Samuel Hine, Ella Emhoff announced what would be a long-term relationship with designer Thom Browne in April 2022. At the American designer’s show in New York, Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter stepped out with Hine who works as GQ’s global fashion correspondent. Emhoff wore a cropped pinstriped gray suit jacket, eye-catching tiered red skirt, with black and white brogues that had a unique curved heel. Hine wore a matching tie, gray suit jacket, shorts, and black combat boots. To paraphrase: The couples who wear matching looks together stay together.

Advertisement

But Samuel Hine and Ella Emhoff’s love life wasn’t the only amour fou on display that day. The model was also flaunting her budding romance with Thom Browne and has since worn the brand at multiple events. Browne’s style was far preppier than Emhoff’s usual fare, but it was perfect for someone who would go from NYC streets to fundraising dinners, blending traditional American tailoring with modern avant-garde sensibilities. It’s a match made in heaven, and Emhoff found a designer perfect for a new breed of thoroughly modern American political daughters.

Over the years, Ella Emhoff has made no secret of her love of knitting, heck, she even got a degree in it. In March 2023, she took her love of wool to the LVMH Prize Cocktail. The prize awards up-and-coming designers — as Emhoff was with her knitwear in 2023 — with cash grants. Although Emhoff was not a finalist for the prize, she was still able to show off her love of knitwear. She sported a knitted pinstriped miniskirt and a cropped midriff-flaunting knitted sweater with long wide-leg jeans, chunky white sneakers, and statement mint earrings.

Advertisement

Emhoff frequently posts her handmade exploits on Instagram, such as woolen Yankee hats and skirts. In 2021, she founded the knitwear collective Soft Hands, and the brand made its NYFW debut a month prior to her LVMH Prize appearance, with the aptly named collection “Ella Emhoff Likes to Knit.” By the time she took to the white carpet at the awards, Emhoff was establishing herself not only as a model but as a designer and creating a lane for herself. As she told Marie Claire, “It feels like I’m setting up for a more true-to-myself path. It’s very liberating.”

In an interview with Marie Claire, Emhoff said, “I’m 25. My frontal lobe is forming, so I’m doing my own thing now.” But in September 2023, Emhoff was still 24 and still working out other aspects of her style. On September 8, she stepped out at Pandora’s NYFW party in a slightly new look: florals.

Advertisement

The look showed Emhoff was a woman who could do both, wearing knitwear one day and ballgowns the next while making it all feel quintessentially her. The dress featured pink and green pastel colors on a black base structured with two straps. Emhoff added her personal touch to the outfit with black brogues and a Prada handbag. It was a time when Emhoff was making the final alterations and ironing out the creases in her style, and this floral look was another fashion transformation that was as surprising as it was impressive.

Although Ella Emhoff was still shaping her style, she clung to her essentials and wore the monochrome that had been a staple of her wardrobe since 2017. At the premiere of Ryan Murphy’s “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans” in early 2024, Emhoff fell back on her favored look to keep within the dress code. The attendees at the event included Chloë Sevigny wearing a toothpaste white Christopher John Rogers dress and Bethenny Frankel in a sparkling black number. The celebs’ fashion mirrored the colors of the titular swans.

Advertisement

Emhoff was no different. She wore a grungy look: a black leather jacket layered atop a ruffled skirt, oversized suit trousers, and chunky boots. It was a left-field look compared to the other attendees’ more typically glamorous dresses. Emhoff decided to borrow from the newest trend on the block, opiumcore — a microtrend popularized by rapper Playboi Carti that pulls from designers like Rick Owens. The trend features looks that use proportions to create chaos and all-black to create unity among differing shapes, much like Emhoff’s outfit did. Even in January 2024, as a mainstay of the New York fashion set, Emhoff was not ready to be pigeonholed as the knitwear woman just yet.

Ella Emhoff once again wore Thom Browne in what continued a move into preppier attire. When supporting her father Doug Emhoff in Chicago at the 2024 DNC, Ella suited up and looked ready for business. Her Thom Browne look consisted of a navy plaid suit, tie, and simple white shirt with Thom Browne’s signature red and blue armbands. But Emhoff’s not the only Democrat to wear the New York brand. Michelle Obama wore it at Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2013, and Jill Biden donned Browne on the 2020 presidential campaign trail. Again, Emhoff showed she knows how to dress for the occasion.

Advertisement

At 25 years old in 2024, Emhoff seemed to be ever-increasingly fond of the preppy look, and this carried on into the following year. In a February 2025 Instagram post, Emhoff wore an Ivy League-style outfit which featured a green raincoat and shirt with a brown tie. The timelessness of the preppy look makes for a dependable outfit. As Lisa Birnbach, the author of “The Official Preppy Handbook,” told Elle, “It’s about finding something solid and familiar.” It seems that Ella Emhoff found just that.