Ella Emhoff made her official runway debut for the American label Proenza Schouler during New York Fashion Week.
Like many other brands, Proenza Schouler is presenting its Fall-Winter 2021 womenswear collection digitally this year due to ongoing health and safety concerns stemming from the pandemic.
Ella Emhoff in Proenza Schouler Credit: Daniel Shea / Proenza Schouler
Their campaign video sees the concrete perimeter of New York’s Parrish Art Museum transform into a makeshift runway. According to the show’s notes, the range aims to “comfort, inspire and empower the modern woman”.
The collection combines sharp, structured tailoring with cocooning knitwear and a range of playful statement features, from fringed long sleeves and soft padded slippers to leather socks under structured stilettos.
In a recorded interview for NYFW at Spring Studios in London, Emhoff admitted to having jitters on the first show. “I definitely lost a little sleep the night before,” she said in conversation with Proenza Schouler designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. “I mean, I’m running for the first time, I’m in a professional environment for the first time … It was a very epic first experience with the fashion world.”
Proenza Schouler
Plans to create your own brand also seemed to be on the horizon. “When I was younger, I wanted to be a designer for a long time,” she said. “Then I took it a little more seriously, I started taking courses at Central Saint Martins for two summers … It certainly exposed me to the intensity of the design school.”
Emhoff has been knitting for thirteen years and sees her designs as unisex. “I want boys, girls, people, everyone to wear colorful striped pants or my dresses,” she said. “I think that would be great.”