For years, Kai Schreiber was known primarily as the younger child of two celebrated actors, Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber. But at 17, that description no longer tells the whole story. In little more than a year, Kai has gone from occasionally accompanying her mother to fashion events to becoming a model with an increasingly visible place on major international runways.
Her latest appearance alongside Watts at Milan Fashion Week offered another glimpse of just how quickly that transformation has happened.
A Mother and Daughter Arrive in Milan
On September 25, 2026, Watts and Kai attended Gucci’s Spring/Summer 2027 presentation at Allianz MiCo during Milan Fashion Week. The pair could hardly have chosen more contrasting looks.
Watts arrived in a vivid fuchsia suit, while Kai wore a sleeveless white minidress with silver heels and a pale Gucci bag. Standing side by side for photographers, their height difference immediately became noticeable — something that had already attracted attention during earlier appearances together. ondoho.com
But Kai’s beauty look was equally striking. Rather than choosing conventional red-carpet makeup, she emphasized her eyes with an intensely dark, graphic style.
The look was a fashion choice rather than evidence that something was wrong with her eyes. Dramatic makeup has become a recurring part of Kai’s runway and event appearances, including experimental pastel and theatrical looks during New York Fashion Week. Vanity Fair
From Celebrity Child to Runway Model
Kai’s emergence in fashion began in earnest in March 2025.
At only 16, she made her international runway debut for Valentino during Paris Fashion Week, appearing in Alessandro Michele’s Fall 2025 collection. Vogue reported that she walked in a python-patterned knit minidress finished with dramatic purple feathers. Vogue
For Watts, watching her daughter walk such a major runway was an emotional milestone. She publicly celebrated Kai’s debut, writing that she was filled with pride. Vogue
It wasn’t simply a one-off appearance.
Over the following months, Kai continued working in fashion, appearing on runways for designers and fashion houses including Jason Wu, Fendi, Moschino and Valentino. By late 2025, she had become a recurring presence during the international fashion weeks rather than simply a celebrity daughter making a guest appearance. Vanity Fair
Naomi Has Been Beside Her Through It
One of the recurring images from Kai’s rise has been her mother somewhere nearby.
In March 2025, mother and daughter attended the New York premiere of The Friend together. A few months later, they appeared at an Armani Beauty event in New York, where Kai’s height was already attracting attention as she posed beside Watts in high heels.
The photographs also documented Kai experimenting with fashion in ways very different from her mother’s polished Hollywood style.
Where Watts often favors elegant tailoring and classic silhouettes, Kai has embraced bleached brows, unconventional makeup, exaggerated proportions and runway pieces designed to attract attention.
The contrast has gradually become part of their mother-daughter red-carpet dynamic.
A Major Moment at 17
By September 2026, Kai’s modeling career had reached another milestone.
At the Daily Front Row Fashion Media Awards in New York, she received the Breakthrough Model of the Year honor. Kai said during her acceptance speech that the moment felt surreal and acknowledged the transgender women who had opened doors before her. She also thanked Watts and Schreiber for their support. Just Jared
Kai described herself as the first transgender girl to receive the award. Just Jared
It was an especially personal moment because both of her parents were there.
Although Watts and Schreiber ended their relationship in 2016, they have continued appearing together for important moments in their children’s lives.
Only days after the awards ceremony, they reunited in the front row at Thom Browne’s Spring 2027 show during New York Fashion Week to watch Kai walk the runway. People.com
The Runway Became Something More
The Thom Browne show demonstrated another side of Kai.
Rather than simply walking from one end of a runway to the other, she participated in a theatrical butterfly-themed presentation. Designer Thom Browne gave her a prominent metamorphosis sequence within the show, drawing on Kai’s background in classical ballet.
Afterward, Kai described the experience as magical and said she had felt “like a unicorn.” Vanity Fair
It was a fitting description for a teenager whose fashion identity increasingly seems built around transformation.
The bleached eyebrows seen at one event may disappear at another. Soft makeup can suddenly become dramatic black eyes. A conventional gown can give way to experimental runway styling.
Those changes are part of the job.
Growing Up in Public
There is inevitably another dimension to Kai’s story.
She is only 17, yet photographs of her appearance, body, height, clothing and makeup can instantly become subjects of online discussion.
The images also capture something much simpler: a teenager growing up.
The little child once photographed walking beside Naomi Watts is now taller than her mother and building a professional identity of her own.
And while having two famous parents undoubtedly brought unusual visibility from the beginning, Kai is now accumulating actual runway credits, fashion-industry recognition and experience that belong to her own résumé.
For Watts and Schreiber, meanwhile, their roles appear remarkably consistent.
They keep showing up.
Sometimes separately, sometimes together, and often sitting only a few feet from the runway while their daughter walks past them.
At 17, Kai Schreiber is no longer simply appearing beside two famous parents. Increasingly, Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber are the ones arriving at fashion shows to watch her.
