Florence Pugh was named “The British Icon” for the Elle UK Style Awards. I agree, Florence’s style is very… British. I’m actually fine with her style and her short hair and everything – she’s not a carbon copy of the traditional “ingénue,” and she’s very watchable on film and on red carpets. I’m always curious to see what she’s wearing even if I don’t always like it. Florence’s Elle UK cover interview was conducted by her friend Jodie Turner Smith and most of the piece is really just about fashion and body-image and how Pugh DGAF. Some highlights:

She keeps it real: “Having people that can take the p*ss out of me around me keeps me very real. It’s easy, in this industry, to go down the slippery slope of only being around people who compliment you. Knowing who I am – and who I’ve been from the very beginning – has allowed me to feel safe. There’s no grand reveal – it’s just me. Even in my style, I never wanted there to be a filter.

Her personal style: “My friends always laugh when I’m getting ready and I say, ‘I don’t know what to wear. I don’t have any clothes,’ because I have so many clothes. I think what I’m actually saying is, ‘Who do I want to be today?’ I have so many versions of myself that I want to show…And there’s been a big excitement to go all out recently. Red carpets haven’t been this crazy in a long time! Young designers, people like Harris Reed, are like, ‘Why don’t we just look amazing and ridiculous for a night?’ People were so excited to wear his hats.

Her style evolution: I think I’ve always been interested in wearing loud clothing. When I was a teenager, I would buy the most outrageous things and sew them together. I’ve always loved colour. I’ve always wanted to be bold and make a bit of a scene – I don’t think that’s gone away. When I first started doing red carpets, it was really tough. It takes ages to feel comfortable with 50 men all shouting, ‘Picture, over here!’ I’ve become more confident in the last few years, and I think that’s hugely linked to the clothes I’ve been wearing. The more you can enjoy it, the more [people] can see that you’re enjoying it.

Why she talks about her body & her faults: “I speak the way I do about my body because I’m not trying to hide the cellulite on my thigh or the squidge in between my arm and my boob: I would much rather lay it all out. I think the scariest thing for me are the instances where people have been upset that I’ve shown ‘too much’ of myself. 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. It’s the freedom that people are scared of; the fact I’m comfortable and happy. Keeping women down by commenting on their bodies has worked for a very long time. 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].

[From Elle UK]

“It’s the freedom that people are scared of; the fact I’m comfortable and happy. Keeping women down by commenting on their bodies has worked for a very long time.” She’s right, actually. She’s also right that it’s so ingrained, culturally, that women’s bodies are for display, for objectification, for sexualization, that it’s startling when a woman says “I feel comfortable like this and I don’t give a f–k what anyone says or thinks.” That a woman can wear revealing clothing and it’s not a performance of her sexuality.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, and cover courtesy of Elle UK.