Kamala Harris' Stepdaughter Ella Emhoff on Being Deemed a Fashion 'Icon': 'It's Kind of Shocking'

Ella Emhoff, stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala Harris and daughter of Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, is navigating her new "icon" status.

The 21-year-old spoke exclusively with PEOPLE at the 2022 Harper's Bazaar Icons & Bloomingdale's 150th Anniversary party on Friday. Ella was named an icon by the magazine, meaning she is a young person who is making an impact on the world through their ideas and their art.

Emhoff told PEOPLE she is surprised by the honor, and is taking it seriously.

"It's kind of shocking," she said. "This is an incredible honor and as someone who doesn't really think of herself like that it's nice reassurance. And makes me check myself and the way I perceive myself, so exciting."

Even so, Emhoff said it isn't quite sinking in that she is a fashion inspiration.

"I do understand the position and it's so exciting, and I'm so grateful," she explained. "But for some reason, I feel like I'm seeing myself from the outside, like it's a very interesting experience that I will never forget. And it's exciting. I feel like every day it sinks in a little more. It's a slow process."

Emhoff said she wants to work with people she finds inspiring in the moment, saying that she doesn't have a specific goal for her fashion career.

Gotham/FilmMagic

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"So what I like now could be completely different from what I like next season," Emhoff said. "So I just like the process and the journey of it, and I've already got to walk for so many great designers like Miu Miu, Balenciaga, Proenza — those are already above and beyond my lists."

A graduate of the prestigious Parsons School of Design, where she studied fine arts with a concentrated focus on apparel and textiles, Emhoff said she is keeping her plans for the future "loose" and "open." Emhoff said she is making an effort not to put too much pressure on the future, and that avoiding stress is a priority.

"The only way to make it in this industry is to keep a level head, keep expectations level," she emphasized.

Emhoff was accompanied by her boyfriend of just over one year, ​​Sam Hine, who said she "did not look nervous."

Both Emhoff and Hine were wearing Thom Browne, Emhoff in a teal, floral ensemble with pants, jacket, shoes and purse embroidered with flowers. Her green socks were floral as well. She wore a lace top, leaving her curls down, and wearing her signature round glasses. Hine wore a dark suit and tie, white button-down tucked into shorts paired and boots.

She said she still gets nervous walking for runway shows, even the one she had come from an hour prior.

"It's the moment right before you go on where you kind of blackout and then your stomach is all butterfly-y and your palms get sweaty — and after you're done, it feels it's the greatest feeling ever," Emhoff shared.

RELATED: Ella Emhoff Makes Her Red Carpet Debut at Met Gala 2021

TheImageDirect From left: Sam Hine and Ella Emhoff

"I was at the show," said Hine, 28, who added he considers Emhoff the voice of a generation, and a "really important one," through her advocacy for slow fashion and homemade, hand-knit Etsy shop.

"What always impresses me most about everything she does is she has her own way and through the lens of personal style," Hine said. "You know, others, they wear whatever and in this position, they do what people tell them to do, and she is no pushover you know, she knows herself really, really well and what's going on inside."

Emhoff's decision not to cover her tattoos or shave her armpits sets her apart from the traditional model types, said Hine, who summed up her approach by saying she is the genuine article.

"She does herself and that's the message," Hine gushed. "She is a true individual. And that's the most important. That's what being an icon really is."

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Emhoff and Hine also talked about their commitment to communication.

"Communication, a lot of deep and sometimes uncomfortable open communication," Emhoff said. "We try not to worry too much about things that don't need to be worried about, even though some of us do, 'I wonder who?'" She pointed to herself, laughing. "There's no sugarcoating it. Like, sometimes it's really hard. Life is not easy. So, talk about it, and then you do it together. In a relationship, you're sharing a life."

Emhoff landed a major modeling contract in August with one of the most prestigious agencies in the world, IMG Models. The agency is known to represent top supermodels including Gisele Bündchen, Gigi and Bella Hadid, Stephanie Seymour, Lily Aldridge and more.

Emhoff made her Met Gala debut in September 2021, and made a surprise appearance in Proenza Schouler's Fall/Winter 2021 show (presented digitally amid the COVID-19 pandemic).

She is the youngest child of Doug Emhoff and his first wife, Kerstin Emhoff. Emhoff married Harris in 2014 after they were introduced by friends. Ella and Cole call the vice president "Momala."