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Kirsten Dunst: 'Spider-Man'

Dunst plays an fledgling actress arriving in New York in "Spider-Man."

(In Style) -- In the thriller "Spider-Man" (hitting theaters on May 3), actress Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) arrives in New York, eager to make it to the top. But dangling from the Queensboro Bridge, clad only in pink Cosabella PJs, wasn't exactly what she had in mind. Luckily, buff Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) swoops in for the rescue.

"But Mary Jane is much tougher than the old damsel in distress," says Lisa Tomczeszyn, associate costume designer. "She's smart and strong-spirited." Although the former teen queen trades in high school combat boots for sleek Manolo Blahniks, Mary Jane's adult emotions are a tangled web. She's smitten with Spider-Man, but will she ever notice shy Peter Parker (the heroic arachnid, incognito), who has secretly loved her since grade school?

Eyes

The film's head makeup artist Deborah La Mia Denaver highlighted Dunst's Asian dress by slightly extending and turning up the corners of the upper lids with MAC Crème liner in black, applied with a brush. "We even put three little individual lashes at the corners," says Denaver. For smoky eyes, she smudged MAC shadows on lids in Malt, Concrete and Nehru (in that order) from the inner corner out. First curling Dunst's lashes, Denaver brushed on Borghese black mascara and used MAC cheek powder in Raizin on brows.

Hair

Head hairstylist Jan Alexander wanted a "dressy updo" to go with the cheongsam. She ran the front of Dunst's temporarily dyed hair through a flat iron, then brushed the strands back to blend with the auburn wig. "You gather the hair in back," she says, "then twist and pull upward to create a French roll." Alexander secured the hair along the fold with ordinary bobby pins, and left a spray of hair across the top. (A large hair clip placed horizontally near the top can be used in place of the pins.) Two faux tortoiseshell chopsticks shortened to six inches lend an Asian touch.

Face

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"Porcelain skin like that of a child," says Denaver of Dunst's fair complexion. For this party look, Denaver sponged on Borghese Hydro-Minerali foundation (a blend of Nos. 2 and 3, both shades of ivory), mixing in Kiehl's Ultra Facial Moisturizer to keep her dewy. Visiora PC 001 pressed powder sets the look, and Stila Convertible Color in Rose on cheek apples gives a glow.

Clothes

"Kirsten is very aware of style in film," says Tomczeszyn, and together they selected Mary Jane's khaki trench coat, "a classic worn by stars from Garbo to Dunaway." Mary Jane's high school Levi's and Dolce & Gabbana sheer net T-shirt give way to Catherine Malandrino bias-cut silk and Prada chiffon dresses after she hits the city. For an international benefit, she wears this floral, rayon cheongsam that Tomczeszyn found in Los Angeles's Chinatown. In an age of plummeting décolletage, the dress's sly sex appeal may not be immediately apparent. "It shows off a trim figure," she explains, "and the slits on both sides reveal Kirsten's long, beautiful legs."