The Dragonfly, the Helicopter and a Teenage Kirsten Dunst

I had just moved to Los Angeles when I got the call to work with Kirsten Dunst for the Dick premiere. She was a teenager at the time and honestly, one of the best clients you could ask for—young, genuinely into makeup and up for anything. When you have someone that open to trying something, you take the swing.

My idea was body art in the form of a glistening dragonfly. I sketched it out—I think I still have that sketch somewhere; I’d have to dig—and sent it to her PR team. They loved it immediately.

Then, it got complicated. Kirsten was down in San Diego shooting Cheer Fever, which would later become Bring It On, and it was a shoot day. For a while, it was genuinely up in the air whether she’d even make it to the premiere. The solution was very 1999—they sent a helicopter to fly her to LA. I did her hair and makeup, dragonfly included, in two hours flat. Insane, looking back.

Here’s the part I still think about. The original plan was built around a strapless dress, and the whole point of the dragonfly was to be fully on display. When we actually got into the room to get her ready, I saw that they had swapped it for a dress with thin straps. If that happened to me today, I would drop the body art entirely. It just doesn’t sit right to have skinny straps cut across it. But I was young, and I’d already built this whole plan in my head, and I wasn’t about to abandon it. I still look at photos from that night and think it looks a little off. Nobody else seemed to care, though—people loved it.

What I remember most isn’t even the dress drama. It’s that USA Today wanted to talk to me about the concept afterward. I’d barely been in LA for a minute, and I was in my 20s. That was one of the first times I’d gotten any real press, and I was thrilled about it in a way I don’t think I’ve ever quite outgrown. It was a really big deal for me, and it still is.

It’s funny what stays with you (and what can keep you up at night)…the dragonfly I’d never do the same way twice, and the phone call from a reporter that made a 20-something makeup artist feel like he was actually doing something in a new city he’d ultimately call home.

^{Getty Images / David Keeler}