Vice President Kamala Harris’s model stepdaughter Ella Emhoff has become a staple at the fashion industry’s hottest events – from the front rows of New York Fashion Week to the runway and even the Met Gala.
But if you look past her striking – and sometimes unconventional – outfits, there’s something, rather someone, lurking in the background who has also ended up unintentionally as a mainstay alongside the 23-year-old model.
Ever see that man in a simple dark-colored suit who looks just out of place next to the glamorous fashion elite? Well it’s the Second Family’s Secret Service detail who are working to protect Kamala’s stepdaughter.
You can see them in celebrity-filled rooms like the Met Gala red carpet, where Ella was photographed in a Stella McCartney look in 2021 with one of her salt-and-pepper haired protectors hovering just behind her.
The same Secret Service agent is seen again just months later watching over Ella as she sat front row at Loewe’s Fall Winter 2022/2023 show at Paris Fashion Week in March.
Ella Emhoff is watched by her Security Service protection as she wears Stella McCartney to the Met Gala in 2021
One of her Secret Service detail is seen sitting two rows back watching over her at Loewe’s Fall Winter 2022/2023 show in March last year
Her Secret Service agent is close behind her as she enters the Loewe show
The Secret Service detail also plays the third wheel when she is accompanied to these fashion events by her boyfriend, GQ fashion writer Samuel Hine.
They’ve been seen sticking close to the couple at shows in both Europe and stateside for a plethora of brands, including Ludovic de Saint Sernin, Courreges, Collina Strada, Louis Vuitton, Thom Browne and Stella McCartney.
It’s no surprise that Ella is the toast of the fashion society after she made a splash when President Joe Biden and Kamala were inaugurated in January 2021.
For the occasion Ella donned a bedazzled Miu Miu coat and a custom Batsheva dress as she took the stage alongside her family, a fashion moment that captured the attention of millions.
Her outfit took the internet by storm and her status as a fashion trendsetter was launched.
In fact, her sartorial display caught the attention of prestigious modeling agency IMG Models.
Upon seeing her at the inauguration, the agency’s president Ivan Bart recalled to The New York Times he thought: ‘Wow, she’s communicating fashion.’
Ella wears a black puffer jacket as she walks outside the Courreges show during Paris Fashion Week in September
Ella and her boyfriend, Sam Hine, are seen often with her security detail third-wheeling
The couple walk down the street outside the Collina Strada show at New York Fashion Week in September 2021
Ella and Samuel attend the Louis Vuitton Spring Summer show in June last year, with Secret Service in tow
Just days later, Ella was signed to IMG who boasts Bella Hadid, Barbara Palvin, Chanel Iman, Joan Smalls Ashley Graham and Karlie Kloss on their roster.
‘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,’ the then 21-year-old told The New York Times at the time.
Since then Ella has been seen not only attending fashion shows, but walking them too.
She’s been seen on the runway for Maisie Wilen, Proenza Schouler and Prabal Gurung, a show where she suffered a wardrobe malfunction.
Ella is a graduate of the Parsons School of Design and is herself a fashion designer.
In December last year, she sported funky knitwear as she stopped by her New York City pop-up shop where she was selling various pieces from her knitwear collection at the Susan Alexandra store in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Even then, her security detail were there with her.
Her Secret Service protection was seen with her at the Thom Browne Spring 2022 in New York (left) and the Stella McCartney Fall Winter 2022/2023 in Paris (right)
The couple is seen outside the Stella McCartney Spring Summer 2022 show in October 2021
She dons Thom Brown outside the brand’s show in Paris in October last year
A security guard is seen in the corner while she attends the No Waste dinner with her boyfriend (couple pictured bottom left)
In December last year, she sported funky knitwear as she stopped by her New York City pop-up shop. Her security detail were also there with her
The Secret Service is responsible for the protection of presidents, vice presidents and their families.
Kamala’s detail was assigned to her shortly after then-presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden named her as his running mate.
She chose the code name, ‘Pioneer,’ CNN reported at the time.
Her husband and second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, would have been been provided protection within 120 days of the general presidential election, in accordance with the law, according to the Secret Service website.
When Kamala was elected her stepchildren would have been afford Secret Service protection.
She can choose to have this detail for up to six months after she leaves office.
