Classique Eau de Toilette

First named “Jean-Paul Gaultier”, so closely was its fragrance or its style tied to the personality, it would be renamed “Classique” to let it conquer women's hearts on its own. Emblematic alongside its masculine counterpart “Le Mâle”, “Classique” remains precisely a great classic of the JPG house and its perfumes.

Between provocation and candor, “Classique” means to be anything but…classic!

In the 90s Jean-Paul Gaultier was the man behind every success, dressing the biggest stars in his eccentric, offbeat clothes and becoming the favorite “UFO” of French haute couture. So when Jean-Paul Gaultier decided to create perfumes, there was no question of half measures: they had to match the vividly colorful personality, and scents, of the creative genius.

In 1993, the first Jean-Paul Gaultier perfume, named “Classique”, was released, and from its packaging alone it showed itself to be anything but ordinary. It is worth recalling that he sought his models through an unambiguous ad: nonconformist designer seeks atypical models - battered faces need not abstain. “Classique” would therefore be astonishing and disruptive, and had to be given an image worthy of its creator. The “Classique” woman would be ultra feminine, a touch daring (dressed in the famous corset that inspired so many of JPG's creations) but above all ultra sensual.

Naturally, the various advertising campaigns dedicated to “Classique” would be offbeat and sophisticated, all while offering an image of femininity pushed to the extreme. Directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, the mini films for Gaultier's perfumes are cult classics and the scenes unforgettable, such as the famous “Le Baiser” spot in 2007, where “Le Mâle” and “Classique” share the most sensual kiss in the history of advertising!

An oriental floral perfume for an unsettling flower-woman

Whether it is the fragrance or its striking bottle, whether it is the unsettling olfactory blend of the perfume or its famous tin can, there is much to say about “Classique”! Although one might assume that Jean-Paul Gaultier has spontaneous eccentricities, reality shows that he is in fact meticulous and attends to every detail of his fashion and perfume creations.

So that JPG's two worlds could meet, “Classique” would wear the famous corset with its matching bustier, which made the couturier's reputation and dressed international star Madonna. Moreover, how could “Classique” and this corset, so refined and delicately cut into the glass of the bottle, settle for a simple cardboard box? No, the famous packaging for the Gaultier perfume would be a tin can, a luxurious one of course!

As for the fragrance of “Classique”, it was crafted by Jacques Cavallier to recreate the couturier's childhood memories, a time when he delighted in immersing himself in the scents of his grandmother's beauty and makeup products.

The beautiful floral oriental thus opens with citrus and bright top notes of lemon, mandarin and bergamot blended with a delicate, floral orange blossom. Then the heart of the perfume ventures toward deep, powdery, refined scents of jasmine, tuberose and ylang-ylang, subtly enhanced by exotic (and aphrodisiac?) ginger. Finally, the woody, animalic sillage of cedarwood and amber is highlighted by a gourmand, exotic note of vanilla and a spicy touch of cinnamon.

“Classique” is thus a gentle compromise between heightened, sexy femininity and an ode to women and their beauty. The corset, sculpted and declined into multiple equally refined and sensual models, makes this bottle a collectible work of art, one that grows on you, to the point of becoming one of the bestsellers among women's perfumes. And this is precisely the genius of Jean-Paul Gaultier: to have made a deliberately eccentric perfume creation into a great classic of perfumery, so innovative and thoroughly addictive is its touch of madness.