Move to the beat of Kristen Stewart's dancer look in The Yellow Handkerchief

Twilight's Kristen trades Bella Swan's style for something sunnier.

We imagine that being in the public eye can be tough at times, paparazzi snapping your every move, everyone from your first kiss to your milkman selling their stories and the constant speculation about your private life. Now imagine how tough it would be facing all this while still in your teens – that’s how it is for Kristen Stewart. Except while many of us would buckle under such scrutiny, Kristen manages to work the showbiz circuit like a pro, all the while looking sensational.

Off-screen the 19-year-old brunette has mastered an edgy cool look that’s made her a regular in fashion magazines. Her signature style takes a tomboy twist when relaxing in jeans and leather jackets, yet scrubs up nicely for glamorous nights out (we especially love the red and black patterned Yigal Azrouël dress worn with black Converse High Tops she rocked at the MTV Movie Awards). She even recently picked up the Elle Style Woman of the Year Award just to further cement her style status as a true trendsetter, yet this didn’t begin with her red carpet outings but her onscreen performance as gutsy heroine Bella Swan in the Twilight movies.

As the clumsy high school teen that falls for the sparkly charms of an immortal vampire, Kristen has been responsible for all sorts of trends. Two of Bella’s most photographed jackets – the blue BB Dakota cargo and the Billabong Hannah – became must-haves and soon sold out thanks to their association with her (the BB Dakota even earning a re-issue off the back of its Twilight popularity), while everything from Hunter wellington boots to grey mittens, Adirondack UGG boots to Lucky Brand smock tops have all ridden the crest of Bella’s Twilight wave.

And it’s a wave that shows no sign of drying up as Kristen works on other films. Instead, her newly earned fashionista credentials now carry into every other project she works on, these new characters becoming almost as beloved as Bella just by association with Kristen. It was certainly the case with last year’s comedy/ drama Adventureland in which Kristen wore a T-Shirt saying “Games, Games, Games” which went on to become a big seller and likewise it’s shaping up that way for the upcoming The Runaways, a biopic charting the rise to fame of the all girl New York punk band of the same name (arguably it wouldn’t have needed Kristen to do so with its tale of teen rebels, yet her presence hardly hurts it, eh?). And so with Kristen’s latest release, The Yellow Handkerchief hitting select US cinemas today, we suspect we could be in for another education on cool courtesy of Kristen.

The low-budget indie drama is a quirky road movie charting the journey through post-Hurricane Katrina Louisiana of an ex-convict (played by William Hurt) and two teenagers, Gordy (Brit newcomer Eddie Redmayne) and Martine (Kristen). Martine has parental problems (her father has ditched her to go on holiday with his girlfriend) and her love life sucks (she’s just been dumped) and so she’s ready to make a break with the past and try something a little out of the ordinary like a road trip.

Filmed back in 2007 before Kristen had even begun her Bella odyssey, she looks noticeably younger in TYH, but the spark that stole Edward’s heart is still there to see albeit in a character more troubled than her Forks favourite. And being that bit younger, Martine’s style isn’t as on-trend or fashionable as Bella’s and with the balmy southern weather she can afford to soak up the sunshine in filmy T-Shirts and denim Bermuda shorts; summer luxuries that Bella waves goodbye to when she moves from Phoenix to Forks.

However there are echoes there. Her look is a fun mixture of knockabout tomboy (the denim cut-offs, the vivid red/ blue colours) and more delicate femininity (the jazz shoes, the leotard/ bodysuit, the burgundy leggings). It’s a girliness that never looks cheap or nasty, stays age appropriate and is eye-catching without being in your face. And like Bella’s it’s got attitude, yet there’s one big difference – the dancer spirit. The ever-clumsy Bella could never pull off the thin jazz shoes, leggings and bodysuit and is much better off with her rain boots and UGGs!