Welcome to the 16th perfume advent calendar door and behind it hides none other than Jean Paul Gaultier's latest addition to the Le Male family, namely the Le Male Le Parfum.
By way of introduction, however, I would like to strike a few more thoughtful and blogesque notes today and shout at the top of my lungs:
Please wear what you want!
Wear what you like and don't pay too much attention to the divisions between men's and women's fragrances, because those are just owed to the marketing departments of the respective companies. One of my favorite topics when it comes to perfumes and their use.
But why does humanity still strive to be shoehorned in, to have a label printed on them? I think it's partly because the whole host of sheer possibilities requires a great deal of decisiveness. After all, we live in times when women can work in executive suites and men can look after the children at home, and that scares a lot of people. This requires new ways of thinking. A dissolution of old, traditional, often endlessly entrenched structures and conventions. After all, everything was better in the past? No, definitely not. We're all still not quite as emancipated (and I hate that word) as we'd like to be, in need of women's quotas and equality officers, but in theory everyone can do what they like.
Since this unsettles many, one wants to have at least in the drugstore and perfumery a certain order and overview, so the said shelf "only for men" must come. With products such as facial cleansing, it may even make sense, since men often have thicker skin and stronger beard hair, at least most of the time. However, I also once had a phase where I used facial care for men because I liked the fresh smell so much and a good friend of mine boycotts all shower gels with the label "for men", instead reaching for creamier formulations, gladly with coconut or vanilla scent. So who decided when what smells feminine and what smells masculine?
In the past, many women's fragrances were more tart than men's fragrances are today. And without the label "men's fragrance" some of the waters would pass easily as a women's fragrance. Many niche brands have understood this by now and declare their compositions as unisex, because this label is not only a marketing decision but could, and in my opinion should, also always be a socio-political attitude. In this sense, I consider all fragrances as unisex and see the respective classification only as a recommendation, because it lives much easier, because more boundless.
But now finally to the fragrance: Le Male the Le Parfum appeared this year as the newest family member of the huge Le Male family. Many of the Le Male fragrances, with their numerous flankers, summer, winter, Easter and sailor versions, as well as the very first version, the eau de toilette, which was launched in 1995, were dreamed up by Francis Kurkdjian, who made perfume history by creating the first of the fragrances in the iconic male torso. His subsequent stellar career is well known to all perfumos. Le Male le Parfum was now, however, created by another perfumer duo, but ties in with the classic le Male:
Immediately upon spraying on, a tangy-fresh breeze blows around me, which quite clearly reveals the Le Male DNA. I am sure you have smelled this DNA before, if not consciously, then somewhere in public, train, bar or cinema. And I actually believe that there is no men's fragrance that I have smelled more often in my 20-year daily-to-work-with-the-train-driving career than this one. Shortly thereafter, the scent becomes more wintry and sweet; I smell almondy hints of marzipan, but they are not listed in the fragrance notes. Sweet iris combines with even sweeter vanilla and fades gently over woody. The ambery woods with slight synthetics that I can detect here in the drydown, surprisingly, I really like in this fragrance as they support it in the best possible way. The Le Male DNA pulls itself thereby through the entire fragrance.
So my expectations for this fragrance were extremely high and I have to say they were not disappointed. I like the fragrance so much that I have already worn it on many days and to close the Keris, it is absolutely UNISEX. So ladies, take heart. If you like the showery vibe of the original version and want to wear it adapted into a winter scent, go for it. I'm sure I'll be buying a big bottle of this when the sample is empty, because I think it's stunningly beautiful, classy and coherent in black and gold. He is particularly well suited in winter, as an everyday, going out but also as a cuddle and Einschlafduft.
To compare it with the most popular Le Male creations I would say, the original Eau de Toilette is the everyday, fresher signature fragrance, Ultra Male, the young, wild sweet-fruity party crasher and the Le Parfum the cuddly winter suitable, noblest and most adult of the series.
Thank you for reading,
Your Flaconesse