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There’s a lot that Tom Holland doesn’t have time for right now. Just putting headphones in and listening to music is hard when “there’s no pockets on the Spider-Man suit” and he’s hanging from wires all day. Cheering at the US Open? Even though he’d “love to watch the tennis,” he has to fly back to London tomorrow (he landed in New York this morning). The actor has just stepped off a plane and onto Park Avenue for the launch party of Prada Paradigme, the house’s newest scent. He’s the face of it, and with no time to wait for luggage, he also didn’t pack it. “I always have a carry-on—I try to never have a checked bag, and then you can’t bring the bottle through the airport,” he tells me of the relatable conundrum.
What he does make time for, always, is sleep. “When people brag about, oh, I only need four hours of sleep, it’s like, poor you. I want 9, 10 hours sleep,” he jokes. He’s also making time for nutrition, like protein, which he’s “always consuming” and considers creatine “a really, really important supplement when you’re talking about longevity and staying fit and healthy.”
He’s consistent in the gym, of course, because it’s “so intense” to be a superhero. “I spent all day every day last week in wires, and most of the time I was upside down,” he says. “And it’s about being fit enough that you can do that every day to the best of your ability so that it doesn’t hinder the character. You need to make sure that the energy throughout the entire movie is always growing because the audience will understand that.” It all requires a lot of prep and recovery. “It’s stretching, it’s fitness, it’s strength, it’s health, it’s sleep, it’s diet and wellbeing.” The wellbeing part is important right now. He’s taking time to go to movies, noting that this is a great year for going to the actual theater and experiencing the community. Plus, “going out for dinner and looking nice and smelling nice really helps your wellbeing,” Holland says. “It helps your mental health and your mental health helps your physical health, It’s all connected.”
Holland’s own introduction to wearing scent (which he often refers to as “aftershave”) was around age 12 when his dad bought him a cologne. “I just remember getting compliments about the way I smelled, which never happens as a young kid,” he recalls. Now, he still likes “fresh” scents. He calls out “freshly mown grass” and “cedarwood” as things he likes to smell generally, and describes Prada Paradigme’s notes of bergamot and geranium as “very cool,”“refreshing,” and a “breath of fresh air.” He admits that one of his younger brothers, Paddy, who is “so into fragrance,” is the real expert in the family. “He has such a good nose. I’m not like that; it’s lost on me a little bit, but it’s really cool. He has all sorts of different bottles, and he does different combinations. I really love to see how he expresses himself through that.”
Now that Paddy is working on the set of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Holland can really see his younger brother’s style evolution. “His sense of fashion has slowly grown to match his smell. He always dressed like a boy playing football, and then all of a sudden he started using aftershave and now he’s dressing like a young man. He’ll come to set and he looks so cool and he’s like my little brother and I dunno… I think a lot of that is born through his passion for fragrance.”
Style is a sensorial experience, too, and “there are so many different ways to express yourself through fashion—it seems like there are thousands of combinations that you can do with scent also,” Holland muses. “I should wear it more often,” he says. When I ask if he’s wearing it to the party, he says yes. And perhaps, he’ll even check his bag on the flight home this time to see what new compliments roll in. At a minimum, he can expect Paddy to notice it. “I’m excited to take one home and to try it out and take it to work and see what people say.”
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