“As an artsy teen, I feel the need to note how much Ella Emhoff’s representation means to us,” one widely-liked post read on Twitter.
Emhoff will join top supermodels like Karlie Kloss and Gisele Bündchen, as well as singers like Selena Gomez, on IMG Models’ prestigious roster. An agency spokesperson confirmed the deal to CNN on Thursday, though declined to give further comment.
The announcement comes just days after IMG Models signed a contract with national youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman, another star of President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Both women sent the internet buzzing with their stylish looks and presence at last Wednesday’s swearing-in ceremony. Emhoff impressed fashion watchers in an embellished Miu Miu houndstooth jacket and oversized collar, which she wore over a high-neck Batsheva burgundy dress with puffed sleeves. (She also went viral for a video in which she expressively wiggled her eyebrows.)
Shortly after the presidential inauguration, writer and editor Evan Ross Katz tweeted that Emhoff was “a style icon in the making.” Fashion retailer Lyst meanwhile reported a 455% spike in searches for Miu Miu within six hours of the inauguration.
The curly-haired daughter of Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, is currently studying fine art and textiles at the esteemed Parsons School of Design in New York. On her Instagram account, she often dons brightly colored funky knitwear, much of which she makes herself.
Speaking about her choice of outfit prior to Wednesday’s inauguration, Emhoff told Vogue magazine that she had prepared her outfit expecting there to be “some anticipation” surrounding her – and her family’s – fashion choices.
“My mood board was very ‘little girl,’ in a sense, a lot of scalloped collars and big silhouette shoulders and small buttons,” she is quoted as saying in an interview alongside Batsheva’s founder, Batsheva Hay. “I was going for something girlier, to embrace my feminine side … because, like, how many times do you prepare yourself to attend an inauguration? This momentous of an event deserves a momentous outfit.”