Le Male

By launching into perfumery with Classique, released in 1995, then with Le Mâle two years later, Jean-Paul Gaultier quickly demonstrated that his fragrances would be as flamboyant and sophisticated as his couture. Le Mâle in particular managed to revolutionize the rather classic world of men's fragrances until then…

Le Mâle, or the first surges of freedom from Jean-Paul Gaultier and Francis Kurkdjian

Being a man is a value. It must be shared by every human being, regardless of sex, attributed to Jean-Paul Gaultier.

The designer of men's skirts and of masculine-feminine styles, and vice versa, could not compose a “classic” men's fragrance—that would have been far too reductive of his vision of things, and above all of his vision of the sexes. Thus, while Classique was very feminine, Le Mâle would instead play with the ambivalence between classic, even retro, fougère virility and floral modernities that were far more sophisticated and, at the time, still much more reserved for women's perfumery.

To compose Le Mâle, Jean-Paul Gaultier turned to a very young talent at the time, Francis Kurkdjian. He, only 25 years old at the time and freshly graduated, would create his very first fragrance from a single brief: salty skin… a man coming out of the water…! The wager was immense, but Le Mâle would be Francis Kurkdjian's first great success, and as we will see later, far from his last. Jean-Paul Gaultier's fragrance would also influence one of the perfumer's major professional choices, as he would eventually have to “leave” the house to be free to compose very different fragrances.

The Le Male fragrance for men by Jean Paul Gaultier

A classic fougère punctuated by powerful sensuality, Le Mâle shakes up men's fragrances.

Le Mâle sets out to reproduce the scents of the barbershops of old while exuding an absolute modernity of extreme sophistication. Thus Francis Kurkdjian used for Le Mâle the classic components of fougère fragrances, both in the top notes and in the heart notes. The aromatic scents of lavender, mugwort, and tart bergamot come together with a powerful and unprecedented mint to give Le Mâle a classic and reassuring freshness.

As for the depths of Le Mâle, far removed from classic men's fragrance criteria, they offer surprising modernities. Woody restlessness echoes the warmth of cardamom, but above all vanilla brings Le Mâle a surprising gourmand sensuality, especially thanks to its pairing with the highly animalic coumarin note.

Le Mâle fully succeeded in its wager between the exaltation of a classic style that was no longer being offered and ultimate innovations where lavender becomes fiery, entirely contrary to its usual use. Le Mâle quickly rose to the top of men's fragrance sales, and today, still declined into multiple flankers, the fragrance has lost none of its splendor, and its creator has become one of the greatest perfumers in the world.