She flaunts her sassy side in a photo shoot for February’s Elle UK where she appears in Dolce&Gabbana and looking every inch the uber-glamorous screen goddess and not a bit the sweet little girl-next-door of yesteryear.

We’ve seen the child actor grow in front of our eyes ever since she captured our hearts alongside Sean Penn in 'I am Sam' in 2001 and subsequent roles in 'Man on Fire', 'War of the Worlds' and 'Charlotte’s Web'. But recently she’s got her teeth into more challenging adult roles with the 'Twilight Saga', 'The Secret Life of Bees' and 'The Runaways'.

 The Secret Life of Bees (2008)

It’s no mean feat; shrugging off the public perception of you as a perpetually adorable girl, particularly one as talented and popular as Dakota Fanning. The problem with being so loved by the public is that they want to keep you that way and don’t always react well to the blossoming womanhood of someone they’ve come to regard as innocence personified. But Dakota manages it with grace and, it would seem, not a little boldness.

Dakota Fanning wears Dolce&Gabbana Macramé skirt and mini top SS12 in photo shoot for Elle UK Feb 2012

Wearing a Macramé Dolce&Gabbana SS12 with a high waisted skirt, mini bra top and coat with soft silhouette, Fanning is all feminine sex appeal and cool confidence as a 1950’s style femme fatal as she stares the camera down. She carries it off too with just the right sprinkling of tongue-in-cheek to offset the raciness.

Dakota, who hails from the state of Georgia is on the verge of her 18th birthday, in the interview she says: “I feel like I’ve lived a long time, but then I realize, ‘Oh, I’m actually only 17.’ I don’t think there should be an age limit on an interest, do you know what I mean?”.

While talking about he physical appearance she has the wisdom of some one far beyond her years: “People are always talking about this person who looks great and that person who doesn’t. It’s there, if you let it in. I let it in to an extent. I just don’t let it affect the choices I make.”

 Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart in 'The Runaways' (2010)

She may be all grown up but her feet remain firmly on the ground: “She is incredibly free-spirited and totally wears her heart on her sleeve, you know exactly what she is thinking by taking one look at her. She’s just incredibly… I don’t know, I wish I could be more like her sometimes.”

With another instalment of the Twilight Saga lined up for this year as well as The Motel Life and Now is good also in the can, expect to see Dakota Fanning version 2.0 gracing your screens for some time to come. Time to let go of the image of the girl everyone wants as their little sister and embrace the woman, the movie star, Dakota Fanning.

For more Dolce&Gabbana Macramé click here:

By Hugo Mc Cafferty

Credits: Elle UK

Photography: David Slijper

Styling: Anne-Marie Curtis