The 26-year-old’s appearance at the Palais d’Iéna on October 4, 2026, quickly became one of the most talked-about moments of the show, as viewers online began pointing out just how closely she resembled the late Kelly Preston, her mother, who passed away in 2020.
A Star-Studded Miu Miu Lineup
Ella wasn’t walking alone. The Paris Fashion Week show brought together an eclectic mix of actors and models, including Olivia Colman in a black leather blazer and matching skirt, and Gigi Hadid in a charcoal cropped top with a sparkling draped midi skirt and colorful sneakers.
Liu Wen walked in a striped navy sweater over a patterned shirt, while Emma Corrin wore a textured brown leather jacket paired with white drawstring shorts. Louisa Jacobson appeared in a tailored navy blazer with orange detailing over a bold patterned halter top.
Ella’s Runway Moment and Fan Reactions
When Ella’s turn came, her look stood apart from the rest. She wore an oversized emerald-green blazer over a plunging patterned mini dress, paired with loose navy track pants featuring orange side stripes and finished with flat black thong-style sandals, her dark hair pulled loosely back.
A Facebook post about the moment described it as the Travolta family strut arriving in Paris, noting that Ella is the daughter of John Travolta and the late Kelly Preston. The comments that followed quickly turned toward resemblance. “She looks like her mother!” one person wrote.
Another commented, “Beautiful, looks like both parents. Mothers eyes.” A third added, “She’s so beautiful as she gets older, she looks just like her mom.” A separate thread zeroed in on her eyes specifically: “Her Mom’s eyes. Haunting, cool.”
Someone else pointed out a resemblance to her father instead, writing that she “has a similar jawline to her father.” Several commenters also remarked on her appearance, with ones noting she had “lost a lot of weight” and another calling her, simply, “Finally!! A beautiful model.”
The Kelly Preston Resemblance Has a Deeper Meaning
The comparisons carry extra weight because Ella has spoken before about honoring her parents’ legacy while building her own identity. In an interview with Parade, she discussed appearing in a campaign inspired by her mother’s famous Got Milk? commercial, calling Kelly’s original work an inspiration.
“It’s amazing cause I didn’t know that she had done it until a few months ago, and I looked at it, and I was just amazed, and it’s definitely an inspiration, and this is such a cool, new, fresh take on it,” Ella said.
She also spoke about the support she receives from her father: “I say he’s my biggest fan and I’m his biggest fan. So there’s a lot of support going on, which is it’s amazing. I learned so much from him.” Still, she made clear she wants to carve out her own path, saying she is “creating my own name for myself” rather than simply following in her parents’ footsteps.
The Travolta-Preston Family Legacy
Ella’s connection to Miu Miu didn’t start in Paris. She previously wore the brand to the New York premiere of Propeller One-Way Night Coach, her father’s directorial debut and her first major on-screen role, choosing a 1950s-inspired floral gown for the occasion. The film, adapted from John’s 1997 children’s book, also took father and daughter to Cannes together.
John has long been vocal about his pride in Ella’s path. Appearing together on the Today show, he explained that casting her in the film was intentional: “I had this plan of introducing Ella to the world as an adult in this very Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly kind of way … it’s made a big impact so far, so, you know, I’m so proud of her.”
Ella’s runway history goes back further still. She made her runway debut at New York Fashion Week in 2022, walking for Karl Lagerfeld’s Cara Loves Karl capsule collection. That same year, she released her debut single, “Dizzy,” while working on a full EP, writing on Instagram that she was still “that 14-year-old weird girl at heart.”
Ella is the daughter of John and Kelly, who shared three children during their marriage. Kelly died in July 2020 at age 57, following a private two-year battle with breast cancer. She was known for roles including Twins, Jerry Maguire, and Addicted to Love.
John and Kelly were married for nearly 30 years, beginning with a ceremony in Paris in 1991. The couple also shared their late son Jett Travolta, who died in 2009 at age 16, and younger son Benjamin Travolta.
For Ella, walking a Paris runway carries its own resonance, in the same city where her parents once married decades earlier. Judging by the reaction to her Miu Miu appearance, fans weren’t just watching her walk — they were seeing, once again, the unmistakable presence of Kelly Preston in her daughter’s face.