Naomi Watts has spent decades commanding attention on movie screens and red carpets, but at one of Milan Fashion Week’s most talked-about events, another member of her family stepped confidently into the spotlight.
Her 17-year-old daughter, Kai Schreiber, joined Naomi at Gucci’s The Store Show at Allianz MiCo in Milan on September 25, 2026.
The mother and daughter could hardly have chosen more contrasting looks.
Naomi arrived in a vivid magenta satin suit, while Kai wore a short, sleeveless white Gucci dress with towering silver heels, a structured light-colored handbag and dramatic smoky eye makeup. Standing side by side for photographers, their noticeable height difference immediately became part of the conversation surrounding the pictures. ondoho.com
But the photographs tell a bigger story than a mother and daughter attending another fashion show.
At only 17, Kai has spent the past year moving rapidly from celebrity child sitting in the front row to a working model appearing on major international runways.
And Naomi has been there for much of it.
Kai Towered Over Her Famous Mom in Milan
Their height difference was especially noticeable once they posed together.
Naomi is approximately 5-foot-5, while Kai has been reported at around 5-foot-11. Add Kai’s high silver heels, and the teenager appeared considerably taller than her mother in photographs from the event. Bintano News
Kai kept the clothing itself surprisingly simple.
The clean white minidress featured a high neckline and sleeveless silhouette. Her beauty styling provided most of the drama: extremely dark smoky eyes contrasted with a pale complexion, while her long blonde hair fell in finely textured waves.
Naomi went in almost the opposite direction.
Her bright satin suit supplied the color while her styling remained comparatively understated.
Together, they created one of those mother-daughter fashion moments where neither looked as though she were attempting to match the other.
And Kai no longer looked like a teenager merely accompanying a famous parent.
She looked like the professional model she has quickly become.
Just Days Earlier, Both of Her Parents Sat Front Row to Watch Her
One of the most revealing moments of Kai’s burgeoning career happened only ten days before the Gucci appearance.
Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber separated in 2016 after 11 years together, but on September 15 they reunited in the front row during New York Fashion Week for an important reason:
Their daughter was walking for Thom Browne.
Kai appeared in Browne’s Spring/Summer 2027 collection at The Shed, wearing an elaborate monochrome ensemble with colorful makeup and a mesh veil. People.com
Naomi and Liev sat together watching her.
Demi Moore was among the other guests nearby.
For Kai, however, this wasn’t simply another walk down a runway.
Designer Thom Browne had given her a particularly theatrical role within the presentation.
She Became a Butterfly on the Runway
Browne’s show imagined a surreal garden filled with insect-inspired fashion.
Kai was chosen for a metamorphosis sequence that allowed her to combine modeling with another skill she’d spent years developing: ballet.
Speaking afterward, she described the experience as magical and said she felt “like a unicorn.” Browne explained that her movement and stage presence made her particularly suited to the performance. Vanity Fair
That background helps explain why Kai appears unusually comfortable on a runway despite being so young.
Before modeling became a serious career, she studied classical ballet and attended New York’s LaGuardia High School.
Fashion provided another outlet for the same physical confidence.
And her parents were watching as it happened.
Her First Major Runway Came at Valentino
Kai’s rise happened remarkably quickly.
In March 2025, when she was 16, she made her runway debut for Valentino during Paris Fashion Week.
The teenager walked Alessandro Michele’s Fall/Winter 2025–26 show wearing a leopard-print minidress, white lace tights, statement footwear and blue-tinted sunglasses. Vogue Germany
Naomi was watching.
Afterward, she shared her excitement publicly, writing that her heart could barely handle the moment and celebrating her daughter’s achievement.
Liev was equally enthusiastic.
He responded that the moment was “beyond beyond.”
Suddenly, the teenager who had previously appeared beside her famous parents at events had a fashion identity of her own.
But Fashion Had Already Been Part of Her Life
Long before that runway debut, Kai had been accompanying Naomi to major fashion events.
One particularly memorable appearance came at Dior’s Pre-Fall 2024 show at the Brooklyn Museum.
Mother and daughter coordinated in predominantly white looks.
Naomi wore an elegant white dress, while the then-15-year-old Kai chose a floral Dior ensemble.
Later came Balenciaga.
By July 2025, Kai was no longer simply appearing as Naomi Watts’ child. Coverage was increasingly identifying her as a model in her own right.
At Balenciaga’s Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2025–26 presentation in Paris, Kai wore a white strapless polka-dot minidress while Naomi dressed almost entirely in black.
Kai later said the dress made her feel like a princess. Vogue
The pictures offered a striking preview of the Milan appearance that would follow the next year.
Naomi Has Watched Her Child Build an Identity Outside Hollywood
Kai was born in December 2008, the younger of Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber’s two children.
Their older child, Sasha, is now 19.
Naomi and Liev ended their relationship in 2016, but their appearances at Kai’s shows illustrate the close co-parenting relationship they have maintained.
Both have publicly celebrated Kai’s accomplishments rather than treating her career as an extension of their own.
That distinction has become increasingly important as Kai’s public profile has grown.
She isn’t pursuing acting — at least not as the central focus of her career right now.
She has chosen fashion.
And in a relatively short period, the industry has responded.
At 17, She Has Already Received a Major Recognition
Only days before walking for Thom Browne, Kai attended The Daily Front Row’s Fashion Media Awards.
She wasn’t merely a guest.
She received the Breakthrough Model of the Year honor. People.com
During her acceptance speech, Kai thanked her family and acknowledged the transgender women who helped create opportunities for the generation following them.
The recognition represented another major step in a career that had begun on the Valentino runway only about 18 months earlier.
From Valentino came more fashion work.
Then Khaite.
Then Thom Browne.
And now high-profile appearances alongside her mother during the international fashion calendar.
Liev Has Spoken Openly About His Pride in Kai
Liev has also discussed his daughter’s journey publicly.
Rather than portraying Kai as fragile, he has emphasized her strength and outspoken personality.
That support became particularly visible during New York Fashion Week, when he and Naomi put aside any suggestion of awkward ex-partner dynamics and simply appeared together as parents watching their daughter work.
Their presence offered one of the sweetest photographs from the show:
Two famous actors sitting in the audience while the teenager they raised became the person commanding attention on the runway.
For once, Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber weren’t the stars in the room.
Kai was.
The Latest Photos Show How Quickly Things Have Changed
Look back only a few years and the transformation is remarkable.
There are RARE PHOTOS of Kai as a young child holding Naomi’s hand on New York sidewalks, followed by images of the pair attending fashion events together.
Then the roles begin to shift.
Kai gets taller.
She develops her own style.
She begins attending couture shows.
Then she walks Valentino.
Major designers start booking her.
And by September 2026, Naomi is sitting front row while Kai performs on a New York runway.
Days later, mother and daughter arrive together in Milan — except now photographers are paying nearly as much attention to Kai as they are to the Oscar-nominated actress beside her.
Their Gucci Appearance Felt Like Another Milestone
At the Gucci event in Milan, Kai wasn’t walking the runway.
She didn’t need to.
Standing beside Naomi in that stark white minidress, she already looked entirely at home inside the fashion world.
The pair also posed alongside major fashion figures including Donatella Versace and Mariacarla Boscono. ondoho.com
And the photographs made their changing dynamic impossible to miss.
For years, captions identified Kai primarily as Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber’s child.
That description remains true, of course.
But increasingly, Kai Schreiber is becoming recognizable without needing her parents’ names attached.
At just 17, she has already walked international runways, received industry recognition and worked with some of fashion’s most recognizable houses.
The newest Milan photographs capture another stage of that transition.
Naomi Watts may still be the Hollywood legend in the family — but when mother and daughter stepped in front of the cameras together, Kai had no trouble standing tall beside her.
For more peeks into celebrity lives, read about how Blake Shelton became a father figure to Gwen Stefani’s sons, or learn about Kristi Noem’s recent divorce filing.
