Over her short career, Pugh has so far worked with the charity War Child, appealed for a ceasefire in Gaza, repeatedly spoken out about body image (at a Valentino show in 2022, she drew some criticism for wearing a sheer pink gown that left her nipples visible; she responded by returning the following year in a blue gown that was even more transparent), and appeared on the cover of Time magazine’s ‘Next Generation Leaders’ issue in 2023.
Yet, as she explains on a short call en route to a dress fitting amid the glitzy mayhem of awards season, she has been eager to find something else. “I wanted to lend my voice in a bigger way to something that I could have the proper time to do, because it’s all very well lending yourself to it but if you don’t actually have time to be there and help, then it’s not very helpful.”
The cause she found, via a friend who works closely with the organisation, was Race Against Dementia, one of the four causes supported by The Telegraph’s most recent Christmas Charity Appeal.
“The first thing people always ask is, ‘So what’s your personal connection to dementia?’ But I find it quite interesting that I don’t have one? I don’t have anybody in my life living with it, but I do have people in my life that are living around it, and I’m very aware that it’s something that’s not just a disease to the person, it’s a disease to the family, and there’s so little information that’s commonly known.”
Pugh realised that she knew “barely anything” about dementia, and figured most young people are probably just as unaware of it, despite it being estimated that one in three people born today will die with the disease. And, in a refreshing change from many A-listers posting earnestly about complex issues online, she is very happy to admit her ignorance.