Florence Pugh is hitting back at the “vulgar” and “loudly abusive” insults she’s received since she turned heads in a sheer pink tulle Valentino dress while in attendance at the luxury brand’s Haute Couture Fall/Winter 22/23 show in Rome.
On Friday, the “Don’t Worry Darling” star was among attendees Anne Hathaway, Ariana DeBose, Naomi Campbell and Andrew Garfield at the fashion show. Her on-theme dress — which bares her breasts — received praise from numerous magazines and publications, with articles dubbing the look “stunning” and on-trend as “Barbiecore” takes over Hollywood and the fashion world.
A day after the debut, she took to Instagram to show off multiple angles of the floor-length dress, cheekily writing, “Technically they’re covered?”
But today, the actress issued a lengthy Instagram statement admonishing thinly veiled critiques of her outfit — mostly from men — writing that it’s been “interesting to watch” thousands try to tear her down. For extra measure, she shared the post on her Instagram Story as well, captioning it, “In case you were terrified of my nips, here’s some more.”
She began, “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.”
“What’s been interesting to watch and witness is just how easy it is for men to totally destroy a woman’s body, publicly, proudly, for everyone to see,” the “Dune: Part Two” actress continued. “You even do it with your job titles and work emails in your bio..?”
Pugh went on to say: 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. Thankfully, I’ve come to terms with the intricacies of my body that make me, me. I’m happy with all of the ‘flaws’ that I couldn’t bear to look at when I was 14.”
The “Midsommar” star added that she was taken aback at how “aggressively” people wanted to let her know “how disappointed you were by my ‘tiny tits,’ or how I should be embarrassed by being so ‘flat chested.’”
“I’ve lived in my body for a long time. I’m fully aware of my breast size and am not scared of it. What’s more concerning is…. Why are you so scared of breasts? Small? Large? Left? Right? Only one? Maybe none? What. Is. So. Terrifying,” she asked.
She concluded her message with a note of empowerment, stating, “I’m very grateful that I grew up in a household with very strong, powerful, curvy women. We were raised to find power in the creases of our body. To be loud about being comfortable. It has always been my mission in this industry to say ‘f— it and f— that’ whenever anyone expects my body to morph into an opinion of what’s hot or sexually attractive. I wore that dress because I know. If being loudly abusive towards women publicly in 2022 is so easy for you, then the answer is that it is you who doesn’t know. Grow up. Respect people. Respect bodies. Respect all women. Respect humans. Life will get a whole lot easier, I promise.”
“And all because of two cute little nipples,” she added, along with the succinct hashtag #f—ingfreethef—ingnipple.”
