Ella Emhoff has been recently named as one of Harper’s Bazaar‘s fashion icons for 2022 appearing at the magazine’s Icons Party last Friday. The 23-year-old has been making waves as a model, fashion designer, and artist but many people may recognize her from her stylish Miu Miu ensemble worn at President Biden’s inauguration, where she accompanied her stepmother, Vice President Kamala Harris. So who is Ella Emhoff and what makes her a fashion icon exactly?

Emhoff was born in 1999 to entertainment lawyer Douglas Emhoff, who after his divorce in 2008 remarried then Attorney General of California, Kamala Harris. This would immediately put Emhoff in the public light and ensure that whatever she did would be scrutinized, especially after her stepmother’s rise to the Vice Presidency. In an article for Elle magazine Harris discussed how both Emhoff and her brother, Cole, would call her Momola writing, “Cole, Ella, and I agreed that we didn’t like the term ‘stepmom.’ Instead they came up with the name ‘Momala.’”

After graduating high school, Emhoff went on to study at the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York where she studied fine art, focusing on apparel and textile. After graduating she went on to design her own knitwear and accessories which she sells on Instagram and her website. She launched her own knitwear line in April of this year deciding to go it alone after previous collaborations, telling