After Don’t Worry Darling’s obsessively dissected rollout, Florence Pugh is back on the press circuit for Netflix’s The Wonder, a notably scandal-free adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s novel set in mid-19th-century Ireland. For the drama’s London Film Festival premiere on October 7, the 26-year-old eschewed character-themed dressing (no somber Victoriana here) for a welcome moment of all-out glamour courtesy of Valentino.
For the occasion, stylist Rebecca Corbin-Murray sourced a bright coral gown from the Italian house’s most recent couture presentation in the Piazza di Spagna, which saw Pugh on the front row in a sheer PP Pink look that made headlines and generated a social media frenzy. The Oscar nominee’s deliciously tart response to body shamers via Instagram? “Why are you so scared of breasts? Small? Large? Left? Right? Only one? Maybe none? What. Is. So. Terrifying.”
Corbin-Murray complemented the feather-trimmed confection for LFF with a deliberately whimsical accessory: a Lulu Guinness clutch in the shape of a birdcage. For her part, the actor leaned into the playfulness of the dress, happily twirling for the paparazzi lining the red carpet to showcase its delicate construction. And for cocktails afterwards at Soho House? Florence doubled down on nightdress chic in puff-sleeved Rodarte.
Pugh has had a number of sartorial wins with Valentino recently, particularly the frothy sequined dress and matching feathered shoes she wore in Venice, at least momentarily distracting the press from the Don’t Worry Darling cast’s awkward body language. More recently, meanwhile, Miss Flo (Google it) slipped on a cashmere Valentino cape and the brand’s towering white platforms to take in Pierpaolo Piccioli’s bodysuit-filled spring 2023 offering in Paris, before shimmying into glittering nude co-ords for a dinner in celebration of Piccioli’s fresh vision for the house. The only question now: How long until she fronts a Valentino campaign?