NewsWhat did Kit Harington take from the GOT set?

After the blood and thunder of shooting the final series of Game of Thrones, Kit Harington is happy to be padding around his secluded home in England. “Right now I plan to relax at my house in the countryside – it’s the place I feel most at home,” says the actor who married actress Rose Leslie after they co-starred on the TV drama.

The only souvenir Harington snaffled from the GOT set was a pair of gloves. “The rest was taken from me!” he laughs. “I think it will be in a museum somewhere for the show.”

However, one pair of gloves after eight years on the show seems to fit in with Harington’s simple and uncluttered way of living. Take grooming for example. Although the Brit admits he has the full set of Dolce & Gabbana fragrances on his bathroom shelf, there’s not much else in his bathroom. “Moisturisers – that’s about as far as it goes,” he laughs. “I’m not an over groomer but I’ve got better since I’m acting. My dad swears by water and it seems to work pretty well so I splash my face with it. In a lot of ways, my face is my trade so I have to think about it.”

Fashion, also, is an area that remains largely unexplored by Harington. Appearing on red carpets and going to VIP parties has taught Harington about fashion by osmosis, which he says is a luxury. “I have been given the knowledge of what good clothes and fashion are from the events I’ve attended,” he explains. “I’ve been inadvertently schooled in what to wear and how to wear it. Before I became an actor, I don’t think I was into it so much, but then as you go to more events and get dressed it’s made easier for you.”

As his career grows after GOT – he starred with Natalie Portman and Thandie Newton in 2018 movie The Death and Life of John F. Donovan – Harington will no doubt increase his time spent on the road, so he’d better improve his packing skills. “I’m not a good packer,” he winces. “I always over pack. I can’t figure out what to bring so I chuck my whole wardrobe in and still don’t get it right which means I have to buy more stuff once I’m there and get another bag for the way back.” One thing the 32-year-old always remembers to throw in his bag is fragrance, specifically Dolce & Gabbana’s latest men’s release The One Grey.

To launch the new fragrance, Harington took to the streets of Naples for a riotous photo shoot. “Shooting the campaign in this open-air market was great,” he smiles. “We were in the streets that were full of smells and people. The locals there are wonderful. They gave the whole shoot this energy – I can’t even begin to describe it.”

In describing The One Grey by D&G, Harington sounds like a perfumer as he praises the “contrast in scents”, adding, “Most men’s fragrances are all one tone, but The One Grey mixes typically feminine scents like lavender with masculine scents like tobacco. There’s a freshness to it, which balances the spiciness. I think the contrast is really nice for spring or fall when it’s sort of a transition period.” Put him in a white coat and give him a job in the lab.

Fragrance is an especially important tool for men, believes Harington, who was inspired to act after seeing Ben Whishaw as Hamlet on stage in 2004. “Generally speaking, women have far more options to wear jewellery or make-up looks,” he begins. “When it comes to men, apart from the scent you have a watch. My watch and my scent are things that I go through life with.” Harington, an emerging style icon, has been seen wearing Bulgari, Omega and Jaeger-LeCoultre timepieces when out and about.

But fragrance remains his go-to accessory. “I think that smell is one of the most evocative senses,” says Harington. “When you grow up and you find your first scent, you tend to stick with it for years. It’s a real part of your individuality and your life experience. Your partner knows you for what scent you’re wearing.”

His first memory of how powerful an aroma can be came in his mother’s rose garden in rural Worcestershire in England where he grew up. “As a kid, I decided I would make my mum a perfume so I cut down all the roses from our garden and then presented them to her,” chuckles Harington. “She said to me, ‘You’ve destroyed my rose bush! That’s a sweet thing you’ve done, but please don’t cut my roses down again.’ You should have seen the look on her face.”