Dannielynn Birkhead Wears Mom Anna Nicole Smith’s Backless Gown to the Same Gala 21 Years Later: Exclusive Details

• For the 2025 Barnstable Brown Gala, Dannielynn Birkhead wore a gown previously worn to the same event by her late mom Anna Nicole Smith in 2004
• Dannielynn’s father Larry Birkhead tells People exclusively its “surreal” to see his daughter wearing Smith’s dress
• Attending the Kentucky Derby has become a tradition for father-daughter duo

Dannielynn Birkhead is honoring her late mom, Anna Nicole Smith.

On the eve of the 2025 Kentucky Derby, the 18-year-old daughter of Smith and Larry Birkhead attended the annual Barnstable Brown Gala in a gown that her mom wore to the same event in 2004. The floor-length black gown features a plunging neckline and crystal-embellished straps across the bodice as well as a daringly low back.

“Dannielynn is wearing Anna Nicole’s dress that she wore 21 years ago to this same event. Life full circle,” Larry wrote in on Instagram. “She said she chose the dress because it was her Mom’s and ‘super cool.’ “

“This is the closest to a hug I can get from her,” Dannielynn told a reporter as she walked the red carpet.

Ahead of the Friday, May 2, gala, Larry, 52, told PEOPLE that while he’s had the dress “for years,” it was “emotional” seeing it on his daughter.

“It was emotional because the last time I saw that dress was on Anna,” said Larry, who met the late actress and model at the Barnstable Gala in 2003.

The photographer also recalled that when Dannielynn “was a little girl, she walked over and she put her hand on the dress.” He continued, “And now that she’s actually old enough to wear it, it just seems surreal that we’re at this moment.”

Dannielynn was the one who chose to wear her mother’s gown, which Larry says is “a little edgier for her than most dresses she wears.”

“I think she’s doing a fashion experiment for herself,” he said. “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.”

Larry also revealed that he spends “over $200,000 in storage bills” to conserve all of Smith’s clothes and belongings for his daughter. “[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.”

Larry continued, “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.”

Larry and Dannielynn have attended the Kentucky Derby together since she was 3 years old, a tradition that Larry said “was really born out of the babysitter cancelling on me the first year I brought her.”

 He continued, “And then everybody was like, ‘Oh, how cute. And then I thought, ‘Well, she wasn’t that much trouble last year. So it became a tradition. Then people started looking for us and then the outfits had to be bigger.”

At the 2024 event, Larry wore a gray suit set with a black tie while his daughter opted for an all-black look previously worn by Janet Jackson.