Florence Pugh Recalls How Her Valentino Sheer Dress “Wound People Up”

Florence Pugh nearly broke the internet last year by simply donning a sheer pink Valentino gown to the fashion house’s Fall 2022 couture show. Over a year later, the Oscar nominee reflected on the criticism she received from that dress in a new interview with Elle, who bestowed the “British Icon” title upon her for their 2023 Style Awards.

Speaking with fellow British actor Jodie Turner-Smith, Pugh remarked that she’s become so open and accepting of her body because she doesn’t like trying to hide her imperfections, but the “scariest thing” about that is when people become upset that she’s “shown ‘too much’ of myself,” pointing to her sheer moment as an example. “When everything went down with the Valentino pink dress a year ago, my nipples were on display through a piece of fabric, and it really wound people up,” she said.

The Little Women star argued that people are scared of her bodily “freedom” and the joy that comes with it. “Keeping women down by commenting on their bodies has worked for a very long time,” she explained. “I think we’re in this swing now where lots of people are saying, ‘I don’t give a sh*t.’ Unfortunately, we’ve become so terrified of the human body that we can’t even look at my two little cute nipples behind fabric in a way that isn’t sexual. We need to keep reminding everybody that there is more than one reason for women’s bodies [to exist].”

Pugh previously responded to the criticism just days after the fashion show in July 2022, remarking how it was to see men “totally destroy a woman’s body, publicly, proudly, for everyone to see” and posing many questions to those detractors in an Instagram post. “What’s more concerning is…. Why are you so scared of breasts?” she asked. “Small? Large? Left? Right? Only one? Maybe none? What. Is. So. Terrifying. It makes me wonder what happened to you to be so content on being so loudly upset by the size of my boobs and body..?”

In the interview, she reflected on the feedback she received from women for wearing the dress, which was a lot more positive than the vitriol she faced online. “When I wore the dresses, every woman I walked past would say, ‘You look like you’re having so much fun.’ And I was!” she remarked. “Women were drawn to the fact that I was completely happy. That’s been a massive aspect of my career and my life: accepting who I am, and not running away from it.”