Alexander Skarsgård’s Secret to ‘Wicker’ Game Is Invisible to the Naked Eye

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IF ANYONE CAN MAKE RATTAN hot, it’s Alexander Skarsgård. The actor’s latest film project, about a craftsman who creates a wicker husband (Skarsgård) for a lonely woman (played by Olivia Colman), has been an unlikely hit since its release in theaters last week. But basket weave isn’t the only material Skarsgård’s rocking—he’s been killing it on the red carpet lately, too.

There was the gold Saint Laurent suit earlier this month at the BFI London Film Festival, the sick Chopova Lowena skirt to promote Wicker at the Los Angeles premiere last week, and the head-to-toe Valentino outfit he wore at the house’s show during Paris Fashion Week. It seems there’s nothing Alexander Skarsgård can’t infuse with his unique brand of Swedish swag.

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So, it should come as no surprise when Valentino tapped the 50-year-old star as one of the faces of its brand-new fragrance pillar, Vendetta (alongside Dakota Johnson for the women’s version). Unlike Valentino’s most famous scent family, Born in Roma, which features a spiked pyramid design, Vendetta’s bottle pays homage to the brand’s classic V motif, with a rich, sensual juice created by master perfumer Marie Salamagne.

You’ll get the sensuality from the campaign imagery, photographed by iconic duo Inez & Vinoodh, and the epic accompanying video, directed by French filmmaker Romain Gavras, but what about the fragrance itself?

“It has a boldness and a kind of self-assertive quality to it,” Skarsgård tells me when I ask him to describe the scent. “It’s not quite as heavy as I thought it would be. That first note of ginger has a lightness to it and then it evolves into those richer, deeper notes that last longer.”

For his part, Skarsgård says he’s a signature scent kind of guy—a far cry from the scentmaxxing approach of today’s TikTokers, who douse themselves in enough cologne to create their own noxious atmosphere.

“I’m a proponent of finding your fragrance and sticking with it,” he says. “You become associated with that smell, it becomes part of who you are.”

That’s not to say he hasn’t had his share of missteps. Born in Stockholm, Skarsgård began acting at a young age—his first film role came when he was just seven—but quit as a teenager to join the Swedish navy and, eventually, attend university. Along the way, he learned some valuable fragrance lessons, as most guys do. “I think when I was a teenager, I overdid it a lot,” he says. “You want to marry your scents, so it’s a combination of the fragrance and your own natural scent.”