Why trophy daughters are better than husbands – and the new fashion plus one

This Paris Fashion Week, nothing has stood out more than who sits front row with whom – and the biggest trend seems to be taking your daughter as your plus one.

At the gold-drenched Saint Laurent Spring/Summer 2027 open-air show last week at the Trocadéro, with the Eiffel Tower shimmering behind the runway, Kate Moss, 52, was in the front row with her plus one daughter Lila, 23.

It’s become a ritual over the last few years for the Moss women to attend Saint Laurent shows together in Paris, as well as to be inseparable on the ‘frow’ at endless other fashion shows over the years. In 2025, they famously held hands at the Gucci Cruise fashion show at London’s Tate Modern.

And in February, the mum-daughter duo were spotted sitting front row at the Burberry Fall/Winter 2026 show during London Fashion Week, looking like twins.

The former supermodel also who took her now-model daughter as her plus one to not one but two consecutive Met Galas in 2022 and 2023, where they even dressed in co-ord looks – and in the latter year, they even appeared on a Vogue front cover together.

They’re not the only ones. Nicole Kidman, 59, turned up at Chanel’s Paris fashion show this week with her 15-year-old daughter Faith serving as her plus one.

Both dressed in co-ord grey coloured Chanel jackets and were seen hugging each other in a cosy ‘look-at-me’ mum and daughter moment.

Kidman also took Faith as her plus one a surprise screening of her new film Practical Magic 2 in Sydney last month. “I’m coming, you’re not doing this alone,” Faith reportedly told her recently separated mum, whose divorce from her father Keith Urban was finalised in January. It’s not just Faith either – Kidman also took Sunday Rose, now 18, as her plus one to the Balenciaga fall couture show in Paris back in 2024.

Over in London, Meg Mathews brought her daughter Anais Gallagher along as her plus one to “The 90’s: Art & Fashion” Exhibition Opening Party at TATE Britain on the weekend. The two are said to have a close ‘Ab Fab’-style friendship.

And of course, then there’s Victoria Beckham and her 15-year-old daughter Harper, born to be a plus one.

Harper, who wore a plum strapless gown as she joined her family to support her mum at her latest Paris Fashion Week show is the latest cog in the wheel of the Beckham brand, with Victoria reportedly putting in more than £2m to launch Harper’s new beauty brand Harlo.

Earlier this year, Victoria also took her daughter along on a business trip to New York for the launch of her fashion line with Gap. Harper looked like a spare part and missed school, but did that matter? No.

It is a case of having a trophy daughter, rather than a trophy husband – a trend that is on the rise with A-listers, and a convenient “plus one” for many ordinary mums too.

Celeb mums have been taking their daughters as plus ones for fashion frows for years: Charlize Theron and her daughter August Theron; Reese Witherspoon and her daughter Ava Elizabeth Phillippe; Uma Thurman and her daughter Maya Hawke; Vanessa Paradis and her daughter Lily-Rose Depp; Catherine Zeta-Jones and Carys Zeta Douglas; and the Princess of Wales even bringing Princess Charlotte along as her exclusive plus one to the Wimbledon men’s singles final in 2024.

But this year, it seems to be hitting its peak, with all the fashion row appearances lately, not to mention Naomi Watts bringing her daughter Kai Schreiber to Michael Kors’s anniversary event in the Hamptons in August.

The idea behind it seems to be that bringing your daughter as your plus ones creates a social halo effect that makes you appear more loveable and approachable as you’re seen in “mum mode” – and by hanging out with your Gen Z or Gen A offspring, their vibrant, fun, and relevant traits might rub off on you.

Or that is the hope at least. In some photos, Victoria Beckham looks to be a similar age to Harper, with the two dressing in similar styles and colours. Could it be a handy comparison to motivate people to buy her skincare range – as well as her daughter’s upcoming one?

While dollar signs could be behind celebrity decisions to use their daughters as plus ones, it can also help any mum who needs a bit of support.

I’ve done it myself and dragged my daughter Liberty, eight, to a party because I didn’t want to go alone. I even took her out to dinner at a pan-Asian restaurant in Notting Hill I’d been dying to try when her sister Lola, 10, was at a sleepover. She wasn’t just my child that day – she was my “date”.

The excuse “couldn’t get a babysitter” is quite handy for mums like me who want the social life without the awkwardness of turning up alone, and it can look cute to be seen with your mini-me. But it isn’t without its downsides.

Just look at Sienna Miller who says she regretted her 14-year-old daughter Marlowe’s unexpected red carpet appearance with her at London’s Odeon Luxe Leicester Square last month, celebrating the premiere of Miller’s new HBO thriller series War co-starring Dominic West.

Miller wore a black feathered gown by Dilara Findikoglu, while Marlowe turned up looking effortlessly cool in a yellow vintage Pittsburgh Pirates 1979 T-shirt and black skirt, while carrying a black Chloé Paddington bag.

It caused such media attention that Miller joked her daughter “mogged” her on the red carpet, stealing the limelight – but it also reportedly made the mum “slightly concerned” after seeing the internet analysing the look of a 14-year-old girl. She confirmed she has no plans to take her along to any more red carpet events.

Miller also admitted “it’s hard” to be a famous parent, telling SiriusXM’s The Julia Cunningham Show: “Your kids want to be involved in your life and it’s an exciting world to kind of dip a toe into, but then it’s so easy to get your life prescribed to you by these moments and suddenly your career is decided.”

Becoming a trophy daughter is the first step to a career following in their mum’s footsteps for a nepo baby – and even non-famous parents. Helicopter parents often show off their daughters as plus ones anywhere they can – office parties, weddings, and dinner parties.

I’ve seen it (and done it) myself. They think it makes them look good that their child is so sporty, multilingual and socially adept – and takes the pressure off their own exhaustion after ferrying their offspring all over the place for extra curriculum activities. Who knows it might be the ideal place to network for a dream work experience?

Bringing along a daughter is also handy for mums who want to go to music festivals but feel too old to go alone. A mum friend of mine made her 17-year-old daughter go with her to Reading Festival for a line-up her child didn’t even want to to attend, just so she had someone to go with. A useful decision – but also one that resulted in some mother-daughter bonding.

That should be the real reason people bring their daughters along as plus ones, but in Hollywood, it looks like it’s also a strategic introduction into their future life. And for the rest of us, having a daughter around is so much easier than bringing along a date or a husband. It’s a distraction, and a way for people to see you through the mum lens, allowing vulnerability without necessarily feeling it.