Dunst poses as Marie Antoinette for Vogue

updated 5:26 p.m. ET Aug. 11, 2006

NEW YORK - Madonna struck a pose as Marie Antoinette in a performance of her “Vogue” video at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards. Now, Kirsten Dunst is doing it — in the pages of Vogue magazine.

Dunst, who plays a young Antoinette in Sofia Coppola’s upcoming film, was photographed by Annie Leibovitz at the Palace of Versailles — where many of the scenes for “Marie Antoinette” were shot — for the September issue of Vogue, on newsstands Tuesday.

The 24-year-old actress, whose screen credits include Coppola’s “The Virgin Suicides,” wears a series of dramatic floor-length gowns by designers such as Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, and by Milena Canonero, the costume designer for the film.

“You breathe differently in those dresses; you move in a special way,” Dunst tells the magazine.

Coppola’s costume drama with modern trappings premiered earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival. It opens in theaters Oct. 20.

The queen’s love of fashion particularly interested her, says Coppola, who won a screenwriting Oscar for her 2003 movie, “Lost in Translation.”

“You’re considered superficial and silly if you are interested in fashion,” the 35-year-old writer-director is quoted as saying. “But I think you can be substantial and still be interested in frivolity.”

“The girl in ‘Lost in Translation’ is just about to figure out a way of finding herself, but she hasn’t yet. In this film, she makes the next step. I feel that Marie Antoinette is a very creative person.”

The photo spread for Vogue includes Dunst in a pink-and-gray taffeta gown by McQueen and a sweeping dress of black aluminum foil, covered in organza, by Galliano for Dior Couture.

She is featured on the cover of the magazine wearing a white wig and a pink satin dress by Canonero.

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