When it comes to red-carpet fashion, Florence Pugh has become known for her fearless and resolutely authentic approach. Unafraid to spark a little controversy, Pugh hit headlines last July when she attended the Valentino couture show in Rome in a sheer fuchsia gown that showed her nipples, then responded to the body-shaming comments she received with a punchy statement on Instagram.
She has since called on Valentino for some of her strongest, and most daring, red-carpet looks: from the sheer black off-the-shoulder dress with built-in hotpants and winding train she wore to the premiere of Don’t Worry Darling at the Venice Film Festival back in September, to the beige taffeta split-front Valentino Couture gown she rocked, again with hot pants, to the Oscars.
For Valentino’s AW23 show at Paris Fashion Week, she wore a shimmering see-through maxi skirt paired with a cropped grey jumper. And just last night she attended the Tiffany & Co store opening in New York wearing an ethereal sheer pistachio green gown from the brand.
Yesterday, Pugh took to Instagram to confirm that she is now an official ambassador for the Italian luxury fashion house: “I’m pretty shocked and ecstatic to announce that my @maisonvalentino campaign is here. Truly an honour to continue creating art with my family at Valentino. Working with talented people is one thing, but to work with talented people who are great friends feeds the soul! And this campaign truly did feed the soul. Thank you for letting me be me.”
On Monday (May 1), Pugh will attend her first-ever Met Gala as the date of Valentino creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli and the pair will, without doubt, have conjured something wonderfully OTT for Pugh to wear.
“It’s big, but we like big, don’t we?,” Pugh said of her yet-to-be-seen dress in an interview with The New York Times. “When I’m on those red carpets, there is so much pressure because you’re either selling a movie or trying to make a moment. They’re nerve-racking. The whole point is that you are expressing yourself with what you are wearing. Every time I step out in whatever dress, that’s a version of me that I’m really proud of. So it doesn’t matter if people don’t necessarily like it. I don’t think anything that I do has to be 100 percent loved. Things being up for debate is good. It means people are interested.”
While we don’t yet know much about what the dress will look like, Pugh’s previous penchant for sheer organza and tulle would suggest more risqué moments could be expected. That and, judging by a comment Piccioli made in The New York Times interview, perhaps a long train. “Drama is what the evening is about,” he said. “You have to play with the [Met] steps.”
