Black Widow star Florence Pugh has responded to criticism at her outfit for Valentino’s fall/winter 2022 haute couture runway show.
Just days after the event, the actress hit back at social media users who slammed her body and the dress she decided to wear.
The Academy award nominee wore a stunning sheer hot pink tulle gown made without a bra. She accessorized the outfit with slicked back hair and a natural, rosy makeup look.
Addressing the criticism through her official Instagram account, she wrote: “What happened to you to be so content on being so loudly upset by the size of my boobs and body?”
Referring to the dress designed by Valentino’s creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli that she wore to the brand’s Friday show in Rome Italy, Pugh said: “Listen, I knew when I wore that incredible Valentino dress that there was no way there wouldn’t be a commentary on it. Whether it be negative or positive, we all knew what we were doing.”
“I was excited to wear it, not a wink of me was nervous. I wasn’t before, during or even now after,” she added.
The 26-year-old actress also criticized Instagram’s policy of banning images showing female nipples but not male nipples, saying “[t]echnically they’re covered?” and promoting the “free the nipple” movement.
Although she anticipated a backlash over her photos wearing the dress, Pugh clarified that she found the men’s reaction “interesting”.
It’s “interesting to watch … just how easy it is for men to totally destroy a woman’s body, publicly, proudly, for everyone to see,” she wrote.
“It isn’t the first time and certainly won’t be the last time a woman will hear what’s wrong with her body by a crowd of strangers, what’s worrying is just how vulgar some of you men can be,” she added.
Pugh, who also starred in Marvel’s movie Black Widow, said she was happy to have been raised to believe in herself and appreciate the “intricacies of my body that make me, me” and all the “flaws” that she couldn’t bear to look at when I was 14 years old.
On the Instagram carousel where she wrote the lengthy message, the actress also shared a photo of herself covering her nipples with her fingers. “For those who feel more comfortable with that inch of darker skin to be covered,” she went on.
