Dakota Fanning in Miu Miu

I went with this angle first because the whole effect here is SO self-assured.

Dakota Fanning

A lot of the time, bodices cut that slight can have a weird effect on the wearer's torso, but not so here. This seems to fit and flatter Dakota very well, and it's so FUN. It's nigh on playful, which is usually more Elle's bag.

Dakota Fanning

I need to talk this one through with y'all. My first reaction is that this particular half-undo looks TOTALLY half-assed, especially in combination with the minimalist makeup. But I do understand the impulse to go really simple on her face, because if she wears a whole ton of eyeliner or bright lipstick, she's going to fight with the dress and/or look like they all fell into the same vat of shine spray. I think... I would have done SLIGHTLY heavier eyeliner and doubled down on the mascara, so that her eyes look dressy, and then kept the lip simple. And for her hair... I understand wanting to show off her shoulders, so I think maybe a soft low bun would have seemed fancier than what she's got. That, or put it down and do a full Veronica Lake effect.

Dakota Fanning

I just feel like that particular hair belongs with a more bouffant-y poof and a mod mini. I'm also not sure how I feel about the black ribbon disturbing the peace back there.

Dakota Fanning in Dolce & Gabbana

This one... again, hmm. MAYBE a slightly deeper gloss, just a wee, on her lips? I love the color of the dress and it's very fun, but the length is a bit matronly on her. The decals are very Elle, and the length is Amy Adams, and the two don't really average out to Dakota for me.

Dakota Fanning

However, a big old YEAH to these shoes.

Dakota Fanning in Miu Miu

This is all basically exactly what I imagine both she and Elle wear on dates, or to hang out with their friends. I may not like those shoes for ME, but they fit this whole throwback aesthetic.

Cheerfully Played: Dakota Fanning at the Venice Film Festival

The Fanning sisters have taken a VERY dark cinematic turn lately. First, Elle was in the astonishingly vile Neon Demon, and now Dakota stars in the horror-Western Brimstone, in which she plays a mute wife and mother who bumps up against a rotten priest played by Guy Pearce. Dakota herself may have felt her Bleak Detector buzz, because she stormed Venice in some stuff that's the exact OPPOSITE of depressing. Also, the Fanning Parents must secretly be wishing for a Mean Girls or Easy A to roll across their desks just for some levity. I really, really hope neither one of them saw Neon Demon. Because what they don't know cannot haunt them. [Photos: Getty, Fame/Flynet]