Tom Holland: ‘You have to be really comfortable with being uncomfortable’

Historically, fragrance campaigns aimed at men have relied on recycled narratives of hypermasculinity, a formula echoed across fashion and beauty for generations. But last month, Prada Beauty broke from tradition with its latest fragrance, Prada Paradigme, enlisting director Thomas Vinterberg to craft something more intentional, intimate and reflective.

Featuring Prada Beauty’s newest global ambassador Tom Holland, the campaign poses a simple yet subversive question: “What if there is another way?” Embracing a sense of duality, it resists prescribing what masculinity should look or smell like. Instead, it explores the fluid, evolving identities we carry in our everyday lives. At its core, it’s about movement and transformation – a reminder that fragrance can be both a signature and a story, shifting with each person who wears it.

With notes of calabrian bergamot heart, bourbon geranium and ambery woods, the fragrance embodies a subtle sensuality and confidence. “Paradigme is an irresistibly harmonious experience of tension, through which the senses navigate endlessly, between softness and freshness, strength and delicacy, power and subtlety,” explains Marie Salamagne, principal perfumer.

A few hours before the fragrance launch, Tom Holland is at Fotografiska New York – the usually shuttered museum opened its doors for one night only, exclusively for Prada Beauty. “It’s really nice to be here today in New York, I love New York,” he says. “I love coming here to celebrate with all the people that have been involved.” Dressed in a T-shirt, jeans, and mules that look like hotel slippers, he’s as laid-back and genuinely kind as he appears in all those viral videos online.

Below, Tom Holland talks to Dazed about his relationship to scent, working with Prada, finding out he would be Spider-Man for the first time, and memories he’d love to relive. 

Do you remember your first ever fragrance? 

Tom Holland: Yes. My dad bought it for me when I was about 12, and I remember not really understanding the point of it until I wore it and got complimented on it. As a young boy, being like ’Oh wow, you can get complimented for the way you smell’ was kind of cool. I’ve always really enjoyed fragrances. I love being at an airport, trying to find something new to wear. I very rarely do because I’m really particular, and I like stuff that’s unique. I try to steer away from some of the more conventional fragrances.

What smells like home?

Tom Holland: I think for me, home smells like freshly cut grass. One of the beautiful things about London is that it is a very green city. We have great parks everywhere, and I live near Richmond Park, so I’m in there every day walking my dogs, and I love it. That probably is what reminds me most of home.

The Prada campaign is about asking, “What if there’s another way?” – when in your own life have you chosen a different path than people expected, and how did it feel? And as you’ve progressed through your career, have you got better at owning your decisions and knowing what feels right to you?

Tom Holland: I think when you live in the public eye, you firstly have to be willing to listen and to adapt. I think I had a very clear moment when I did a TV show that came out to very, very negative reviews. I had this moment where I was like, I can either decide to let this really upset me, or I can just continue to be really proud of the work and leave the process with a sense of honour in the decision that I made to do the show in the way that we decided to make it. 

There is a childhood video of you dancing in the campaign. If you could send a message to that kid in the video, what would you say to him? 

Tom Holland: I almost feel it’s better the other way around. The reason that the video is in the film is because in our pitch meeting with Thomas, he brought up this idea of me dancing, and I immediately got really nervous because I don’t really like dancing in front of people. Then I thought of that video of me as a kid dancing with complete freedom and zero expectations of people’s opinions.

I use that video a lot in my job, because as an actor, you have to be really comfortable with being uncomfortable. I spent all week last week upside down, and it’s really uncomfortable. We have to find a reason to love it, because Peter Parker is so comfortable hanging upside down, right? I just kind of pitched this video of me as a kid, and I showed it to them on Zoom and said, ‘what if this video was the backbone of the film?’ Prada really liked it, and Thomas really liked it. The film’s quite profound in the world of fragrance. It’s not your typical hyper-masculine version of a fragrance campaign, and I just felt like the relationship between your younger self and your older self was a cool thing to explore.

 What was it like working with Thomas Vinterberg? 

Tom Holland: I love Thomas Vinterberg, and I’ve always wanted to work with him, so to get the chance to share a set with him and collaborate with him and be directed by him was such an honour. I was also just about to start shooting with Christopher Nolan, and I hadn’t worked in a very, very long time. Working with Thomas just filled me with so much confidence. He was so complimentary, he was so kind and sweet that I felt like I went into shooting The Odyssey with a great sense of confidence, which is kind of what the campaign’s about, letting go and having a good time – and that’s exactly what I did with that movie. So I was very, very grateful to Thomas, and I love his work. I’m a big fan of his, and he’s everything you’d want him to be.

Paradigme is refillable and long-lasting. If you could “refill” one moment from your life and experience it all over again, which would it be?

Tom Holland: Some things immediately spring to mind that I’m not gonna talk about, that I would love to go back and relive. I think things that would be appropriate to talk about are being on set with Toby [Maguire] and Andrew [Garfield] for the first time. It was a day filled with so many nerves and anticipation that concluded with three long-lost brothers coming together. It was a really, really special time. Also, the day that I got cast as Spider-Man is imprinted in my mind. Oh my God, it was so crazy. I’d love to be a fly on the wall and watch that young kid, my life changed that day.

Do you remember where you were when you got the news? 

Tom Holland: Yeah, I was in my bed at my parents’ house. I remember I was I sat on the left side of my bed on my computer. I just played golf with my dad. I went on Instagram, and Marvel had posted a picture of Spider-Man and said go to our website to find out who the new Spider-Man is. So I remember, I was on my laptop and it said my name. It was crazy. 

If Paradigme were a character in one of your films, who would they be?

Tom Holland: I felt like Peter Parker would be a great person to wear Prada Paradigme, because he’s very kind of, he’s very easy breezy, and I think it really does smell like a breath of fresh air. It has a real citrus, fresh quality to it. It has lots of vanilla, which is very sweet. Peter Parker is very sweet, so he’d probably be a good shout.

If Prada Paradigme was a meal, which one would it be?

Tom Holland: It doesn’t have peach in it, but I’m thinking, like a peach tart or something, it’s very fruity. It has lychee in it. So maybe, a peach and lychee crumble.

Prada Paradigme is out now