Alexander Skarsgård on Why the Scent of Moldy Wallpaper Reminds Him of Home

When Alexander Skarsgård joins the Zoom call, it’s around 11 a.m. and he’s sitting in a brightly lit hotel room in Los Angeles. Later this evening, he’ll be heading to an event in what he describes as “a beautiful Valentino outfit.”He’s there to celebrate Vendetta Uomo, the Italian house’s first major new fragrance launch in six years. Created by master perfumer Marie Salamagne, it’s a woody, spicy gourmand built around ginger, cinnamon liquor, and patchouli. Skarsgård fronts the scent alongside Dakota Johnson, with the pair playing two very good-looking lovers in the campaign film directed by Athena’s Romain Gavras.While the fragrance itself is new, Skarsgård’s relationship with Vendetta goes way back. As a kid, he wore the OG 1991 scent to school dances, applying enough to fumigate the entire gymnasium. “It’s come full circle, and hopefully I’ve learned to use it in moderation this time,” he laughs. “We have the event tonight. We’ll see if I succeed with that.”Valentino BeautySkarsgård has long admired Valentino. He remembers watching Valentino: The Last Emperor, the documentary about the house’s founder, and being struck by how “innovative, playful, fun, sexy, and romantic” his work was. Growing up around Sweden’s quieter, more low-key vibe, he saw something so exciting in all that Italian excess. “The aesthetic of the Swede is much more scaled-back and reserved, and there’s a level of conformity,” he says. “For me, it’s fun to break out of that a little bit.”Of course, not all of his favorite smells come in a very expensive glass bottle. Asked which scent instantly reminds him of home, his answer is immediate: “Moldy wallpaper.” Skarsgård’s great-great-grandad built a house on an island in southern Sweden, and it’s still in the family today. The wallpaper in his childhood bedroom was old and falling off, but his dad refused to replace it because he was so nostalgic about it. “It had a very distinct, sweet, moldy smell,” says Skarsgård. “Every time I smell it now, it brings me back to my childhood. I was falling asleep in my bed, hearing my parents and grandparents playing cards in the living room with the door slightly open, and just smelling the walls.”The family eventually had the wallpaper recreated, although the original remains in his old bedroom. “Every summer I go there,” he says. “I give it a good sniff.” Mold, for the record, is not currently listed among Vendetta Uomo’s notes.Valentino BeautyIn recent years, Skarsgård has pushed his red carpet fits further and further. While in Cannes promoting Pillion (the BDSM biker romance where he plays the leader of a queer motorcycle club), he wore a vintage “bootlicker” tee, leather trousers, and Loewe biker boots. A few months later, he pulled up to its Zurich photocall in a Magliano shirt printed with dildos, lube, and paper towels. “If you do a long press tour, if you’re going to do 40 stops in two months, there can be a certain monotony to it,” he says. “Why not have some fun with it rather than alternating between a black and a grey suit?”So, who’s had the biggest influence on how he dresses? “Oh, the drag queens of San Francisco,” says Skarsgård with zero hesitation in his voice.He thinks back to the San Fran premiere of The Diary of a Teenage Girl at the Castro Theatre. The local drag queens were hosting, while co-star Bel Powley and director Marielle Heller were getting glammed up in “these amazing outfits.” Skarsgård had brought a suit, but it suddenly felt “so sad and boring,” so he asked if he could join the party and wear a dress.“I got a full four-hour glam and a Farrah Fawcett look,” he says. “It made me realize that there are actually options, even for men. You can have fun on the red carpet.”A version of this story originally appeared in British GQ.