Le Male: The first masculine fragrance from the house of Jean Paul Gaultier
By launching into perfumery with Classique, released in 1995, then with Le Mâle two years later, Jean-Paul Gaultier quickly demonstrated that his perfumes would be as earthy and sophisticated as his couture. The Male was particularly able to revolutionize the rather classic world until then of male fragrances …
The Male or the first outbursts of freedom by Jean-Paul Gaultier and Francis Kurkdjian
“ Being a man is a value. It must be shared by all human beings, regardless of their gender. “Jean paul Gaultier.
The designer with masculine skirts and masculine-feminine styles and vice versa could not compose a” classic “masculine perfume, it would have been far too restrictive of his vision of things and especially of his vision of the sexes. So, if Classique was very feminine, Le Mâle would rather have fun playing on the ambivalence between classic or even retro fern virility and sophisticated flowery modernities and much more reserved at that time for female perfumery.
To compose Le Mâle, Jean-Paul Gaultier will go to a young talent of the time, Francis Kurkdjian. The one who was only 25 at the time and just graduated, will create his very first perfume on a single brief: ” salty skin … man coming out of the water … “! The bet is immense but The Male will be the first great success of Francis Kurkdjian and we will see it thereafter, far from being his last. The perfume of Jean- Paul Gaultier will also influence one of the great professional choices of the p erfumer who will have to definitively “leave” him to be free to compose very different fragrances.
Le Male perfume for men by Jean Paul Gaultier
A classic fern punctuated with powerful sensuality, Le Mâle shakes up masculine scents.
The Male wants to be the reproduction of the scents of the barber of yesteryear while exhaling an absolute modernity with extreme sophistication. Thus Francis Kurkdjian will use for Le Mâle the classic components of fern perfumes both in the top notes and in the heart notes. The aromatic scents of lavender, mugwort and the tangy bergamot will come alongside a powerful and unique mint to offer the Male a classic and reassuring freshness.
Regarding the depths of Le Mâle, far from the classic masculine scent criteria , they will offer astonishing modernity. The woody nerves will echo the warmth of the cardamom, but above all the vanilla will bring to Le Mâle an astonishing gourmet sensuality, especially thanks to its marriage with the very animal note of coumarin.
Le Mâle has amply succeeded in its bet between the exaltation of a classic style that was no longer proposed and ultimate innovations where lavender becomes hot, completely contrary to its usual use. Le Mâle quickly appeared at the top of sales for men’s perfumes, still available today in multiple bottles, the perfume has lost nothing of its splendor and its creator has become one of the greatest perfumers in the world.
How can we imagine that Jean-Paul Gaultier could create perfumes that are not in his image? Exuberant but elegant, innovative but retro, Jean-Paul Gaultier perfumes were able to offer in a single bottle, Classique, the entire universe of the French designer. Only two years after the release of Classique, in 1995, Jean-Paul Gaultier offered these gentlemen the muscular and innovative sailor Le Mâle. Designed by Francis Kurkdjian, Le Mâle will be able to blend with impertinence the passion of Jean-Paul Gaultier for the marriage of eras.
Le Mâle, Jean-Paul Gaultier’s very first male fragrance and Francis Kurkdjian’s first major success
For Jean-Paul Gaultier as for Francis Kurkdjian, Le Mâle represents the beginning of a new adventure. Of course for the great stylist, the step had already been taken with his beautiful and so original Classique composed by Jacques Cavallier in 1993. The perfume, designed as an ode to the scents of the powders of yesteryear by the grandmother of the stylist married to ultramodern accords, had known how to seduce from its release and thus immediately hoist the house of Jean-Paul Gaultier to the rank of perfume house.
But Jean-Paul Gaultier had never yet had the idea of Composing a perfume for men, especially since these gentlemen demanded the perfumed alter ego of this so wonderful Classic. It is to the very young perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, barely out of his training, that we will entrust the expectations of the master. The “brief” of what the future would be The Male was concise: “A few pages presenting the universe of the creator and his olfactory memories linked to childhood. Like the corset-maker who had inspired The Classic, a barber’s stall stood out. “According to Francis Kurdjian for Marie-France.
Yet despite this brief injunction, the very young perfumer will perfectly marry the reminiscences of the barber wanted by the stylist with fresh, invigorating but also flowery accords, totally innovative for a masculine scent. The Male will thus very quickly obtain the same success as Classique and will therefore bring Francis Kurkdjian into the rank of great perfumers and Jean-Paul Gaultier as a specialist in original and trendy perfumes.
Between the retro scents of the barber and flowery modernities, Le Mâle astonishes and captivates …
Francis Kurkdjian, who tells Marie-France the wonderful story of the creation of Le Mâle, confides:“ In the foreground, there was this note: “≠ fashion perfume”. What confirmed my choice: simple, authentic and sincere agreements. So I added touches of vetiver, amber and grapefruit. “.
The Male will therefore be the daring mix of raw materials of the very first choice, somewhat aromatic and classic, such as with top notes of lavender, grapefruit and bergamot but boosted by sweet and exotic hearts of neroli flower, cinnamon and cumin. As for the depths of Le Mâle, they will also be relatively classic with their woody aspects of vetiver, sandalwood, cedar but punctuated by modern and innovative delicacies of vanilla and tonka bean.
Fougere