Anna Nicole Smith’s look-alike daughter, Dannielynn Birkhead, honored her late mom by recreating one of her iconic looks.
The 18-year-old attended the Kentucky Derby’s annual Barnstable Brown Gala on Friday night and wore the same dress her mother wore to the event in 2004.
“Dannielynn is wearing Anna Nicole’s dress that she wore 21 years ago to this same event. Life full circle,” said her father, Larry Birkhead, who shared the touching moment on Instagram Friday.
“She said she chose the dress because it was her Mom’s and ‘super cool.’”
The floor-length black gown features a plunging neckline, crystal-embellished straps across the front bodice and a bold low back.
While walking the red carpet, Dannielynn told reporters, “This is the closest to a hug I can get from her.”
Prior to Friday night’s event, Larry, 52, told People that he’s had the dress “for years” but still found it “emotional” seeing his daughter put on the sentimental piece.
“It was emotional because the last time I saw that dress was on Anna,” said Larry. The photographer reportedly met the late actress at the Barnstable Gala in 2003.
He fondly remembered how Dannielynn would walk “over and put her hand on the dress” when she “was a little girl.”
“And now that she’s actually old enough to wear it, it just seems surreal that we’re at this moment,” Larry shared.
While Larry acknowledged the risqué look is “a little edgier for her than most dresses she wears,” he explained that he felt Dannielynn chose the dress as “a fashion experiment for herself.”
“Also, I think it’s really meaningful for her to wear. I’m just glad she’s going through and starting to wear some of [Smith’s clothes] because she could literally pick out an outfit a day for the rest of her life and never wear the same thing twice with everything,” he added.
Larry revealed he still keeps all of Smith’s clothes and belongings to pass on to their daughter some day — a move that amounts to “over $200,000 in storage bills.”
“[I] just hope that she would appreciate some of these things someday,” he shared. “She’s just now starting to get into the curiosity of some of the fashion and things in her mom’s world.”
“When somebody passes away, you think, ‘Oh, I’m not getting rid of anything. And then you go through the emotions of, okay, do I really want this? Do I really need this?’… and you think, ‘Well, if there’s just one thing in there that she can connect with, that gives her a sense of who her mom was. So it was really special that she picked out the dress to wear,” he continued.
Smith died on Feb. 8, 2007, at age 39. Her cause of death was listed as an accidental overdose.
Months later, Birkhead was awarded custody of Dannielynn after a highly publicized legal battle.
