Legend Spirit, a vision of the relaxed modern man
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 Fougere 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 perfumer 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 Fougere 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 Fougere 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.