L`enfant terrible of French Fashion - Jean Paul Gaultier

08/15/08 15:59:04

Frenchman, a designer not in vocation, but for his love, talent and incessant energy, Jean Paul Gaultier, was born on 24th April 1952, in Acrueil, Val de Marne. He has always tried to be different, to stand out and show his creations in different light. He impressed even Pierre Cardin and he designed Madonna’s creations for her tours. Besides his two haute couture collections and street wear collection, he designs for prestigious Hermes. He is known for his unconventional fashion shows, ‘odd’ models, who are tattooed, pierced, elderly or chubby. He has always differed from others in his way of work, and in spite of all negative critiques about him, he is building an image of modern, imaginative bad boy of French fashion.

Jean Paul Gaultier knows very well what he is doing and how to attract attention; he wants to leave a mark of creativity and distinctiveness in the world of hiperproduction. He obviously does a great job, since he became one of the best. He showed incredible talent in all spheres of fashion, he created fashion lines for movies, costumes, jewelry and perfumes, of course. Whenever we go to a perfumery, perfume bottles are the ones that make the first impressions, and designers try to make them catchy to attract our attention. Some like simplicity, others prefer incredible shapes, but the truth is that the bottle is the first step to customer. If its contents guess our wishes, love for all times can happen.

Jean Paul Gaultier is very good in creating bottles, since it is impossible not to notice his perfume bottles and want to try the perfumes. Each of them has a story written by Gaultier.

This controversial designer did not stay memorable only for his design of the bottles, but also for his perfumes, which are quality and opulent. I really enjoy and choose his perfumes since they are so distinctive and do not follow the trend of summer or winter perfumes, but last for years. Both men and women come back to them. I am one of them, since Gaultier’s Classique-L`eau d`Perfume is on the first place among the perfumes I possess. It is an embodiment of sex-appeal and seduction; the most feminine, intoxicating and very long-lasting perfume.

The first Gaultier’s perfume for women appeared on the market in 1993 and it was designed by Gaultier himself. He has carried an idea of feminine figure with unchaste lace corset which he created for Madonna in the 1990s since he was a child and saw first corsets at his grandmother’s and later helped her create them.

Female figure in underwear has represented something spectacular and utterly radical in branch of industrial design since then. He wanted his first perfume to be seductive, intoxicating and sophisticated. It includes rose in the top notes, the heart is enriched with orchid which announced joy that is arriving, while the base is composed of sweet, passionate vanilla and gentle amber. The name of the perfume says a lot about the designer’s aim: to achieve the classic for all times.

Classique L’eau d’Toilette is available in the bottle of the same design, but with different fragrant notes. This female figure left the lace corset, but Gaultier wanted this perfume to be the one you will recognize among all other perfumes with your eyes closed. It really is so. Seductive rose which intoxicates in the top notes with sweet anise, ginger as an aphrodisiac and passion of blossoming orange, while the base stayed the same: combination of vanilla and amber notes.

There are summer versions of Classique, which Gaultier has successfully dressed and undressed for years; with different clothes, golden corsets, painted fish, butterflies, exotic flowers… He testifies his unbelievable energy, imagination and need to show his clients at least a part of love for the job he does.

The first perfume for men accompanied by controversial commercial is perfume Le Male, launched in 1995, in the legendary bottle shaped like masculine torso, coloured in blue with sailor’s shirt, which is the designer’s trademark. He expresses himself this way, in unconventional street wear, but with a great wish to be different from others and to enjoy it.

Le Male is a strong, fresh, traditional and sensual fragrance, standing on the border between tradition and arrogance, freshness and softness, strength and sensuality. Gaultier’s wish is that man will accept his gentle side, which will strengthen the masculine traits in him.

It is interesting that this perfume for men can be found dressed in a Scottish kilt, as well, which is another Gaultier’s trademark. He created it in 1984, and aside the publicity he gained, he disturbed the public and became very popular. This is one of those perfumes for men that even women like to wear on their skin.

Fragile is the third perfume and it was introduced in 1999 with an intention to seduce and enchant. It has mysterious and sensual power which intoxicates with tuberose. The bottle was a hit: snow ball with female figure in a black dress in the middle. It is impossible not to notice it among other perfumes on shelves.

We will not be able to find out whether this lady is a film diva or just another sophisticated lady in her world of dreams. Inscription on the box - Fragile - warns that the bottle contains aphrodisiac which breaks men’s hearts. Or maybe Gaultier wanted to say that the diva’s heart kept under glass bell might be fragile as heart of any other women on the planet. The irresistible perfume Fragile will make you not notice any other women but the one who is able to wear it.

Gaultier2 was launched in 2005 as the first unisex version. The bottle accompanies this intensive, warm and sensual fragrance. This bottle is known as “Gaultier for man and woman’s power” or sacred joining of two people, and this is illustrated by design of the bottle, since each of the powerful bottles contains a magnet, and when the two magnets are put together, they create an even more powerful whole.

The warm and sensual fragrance contains three main notes. Clear and pure amber notes are sparkling. They take you back to source of sensuality and create the essence of the fragrance. Musk notes leave an intoxicating trace on your skin, gentle and effective at the same time. Vanilla bean, as the third ingredient of this powerful unisex, opens the perfume with a powdery effect and wraps us with passion of sugared fruit.

Fleur Du Male is Gaultier’s second fragrance for men and it was presented in April 2007. Fleur Du Male has the same bottle as its antecedent Le Male, but coloured in milky white. This is the first perfume for men created as a floral one. Gaultier wants to surprise the modern man with completely new notes for stronger sex. The classic masculine fougere got a new interpretation with an intensive note of orange blossom.

The name of the perfume shows a play on words. On the one hand, Fleur Du Male is a flower of masculine gender (in plants which have flowers differing in gender), while on the other hand, there is an allusion on the poem by famous French poet Charles Baudelaire- Les Fleurs du Mal (Flowers of Evil).

Two new editions have been introduced this year. Perfume for men, Monsieur eau du Matin, was presented together with a collection of 17 accompanying products including body care products and make up for men! This perfume is created of woody notes of cedar, fresh bergamot, petit grain oil and Guaiac wood.

Perfume for women, MaDame, was also presented in 2008, after a nine years long break since the launch of the perfume Fragile in 1999, if we do not count limited summer versions of Classique. MaDame is the modern face of the Classique perfume, which aims at younger audience and is actually a contemporary sequence of Gaultier’s grace. It is composed of sporty aromas of rose, grenadine, musk and cedar. Bottle is very interesting: it looks like a glass block with implanted body of Classique sculpture in the middle. The bottle is transparent and massive, coloured in iridescent pink nuances.

We can only thank Gaultier for his individuality, inspiration and effort made in creating his unusual perfumes, which are very recognizable for their quality in the sea of perfume production. As Gaultier recommends: Close you eyes and sniff! You will certainly recognize his perfumes!