Kai Schreiber Closes NYFW Walking Thom Browne Finale

Kai Schreiber walked Thom Browne's insect-inspired Spring 2027 finale days after becoming the first trans girl to win Breakthrough Model of the Year.

New York Fashion Week's official Spring 2027 schedule closed on September 15 with Thom Browne's women's collection at The Shed, and 17-year-old Kai Schreiber — daughter of Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber — appeared on the runway. According to Yahoo, she wore an insect-inspired look featuring patterned layers, a mesh face covering and colorful makeup, in a collection that transformed Browne's familiar tailoring with butterflies, bees and grasshoppers drawn from a garden undergoing metamorphosis. Yahoo reports Browne told Vanity Fair that her background in classical ballet made her a natural choice for the theatrical performance, and that Kai later said she "felt like a unicorn" taking part. Her parents, who separated in 2016, reunited in the front row, photographed together by Page Six alongside guests including Demi Moore.

The runway appearance came just four days after another first: per Yahoo, Kai received Breakthrough Model of the Year at The Daily Front Row's Fashion Media Awards on September 11 at the Rainbow Room, where she noted she was the first trans girl to receive the award. Both parents attended, and during her speech she thanked her family for their "unconditional support" and acknowledged the trans women in fashion who created opportunities for the generation that followed. The Daily Front Row honored her alongside Twiggy, Bethann Hardison, Jordan Roth and Jenna Lyons, and Yahoo reports Watts later praised Kai's creativity and community on Instagram.

Yahoo traces Kai's rapid rise to a professional runway debut in March 2025, when she walked Valentino's Fall 2025 show during Paris Fashion Week — an occasion Watts celebrated online, saying she was "squealing with pride." She has since appeared for Valentino, Fendi and Jean Paul Gaultier, and appeared with Watts in a Simkhai Fall 2026 campaign. In a 2025 Interview conversation, Yahoo reports, Kai said she had practiced runway walks in the family's kitchen for years and made Watts record them, declaring: "I want to be a supermodel. Period." Within roughly eighteen months, that kitchen practice translated into a major modeling award and the closing slot of New York Fashion Week.

While Kai's double milestone dominated the family headlines, ABS-CBN reports that Heart Evangelista also brought her style to New York Fashion Week, in a September 17 Lifestyle piece by Josh Mercado — a reminder of how the week's front rows and runways drew Filipino stars alongside Hollywood names. For fashion watchers, the more striking story is the pace of Kai's ascent: as Yahoo frames it, less than two years passed between her first professional show and an award that placed her in the company of industry legends.