Jean Paul Gaultier takes its most famous man out into deeper waters with Le Male In Blue, a limited-edition fragrance built around lavender, metallic anise and potent benzoin.
There are fragrances that sit politely on the bathroom shelf. And then there’s Le Male.
For decades, Jean Paul Gaultier’s unmistakable sailor has occupied his own corner of men’s fragrance: striped, sculpted, provocative and never particularly interested in blending in.
Now, for Le Male In Blue, he’s been thrown into deeper waters.
The new limited-edition Eau de Parfum arrives dressed accordingly. The famous male torso bottle is washed in deep metallic blue, cut through with translucent black, giving the impression of a wave caught just before it breaks. It is darker, moodier and more formidable than the sailor we know.
But the real shift happens inside.
The Scent
Lavender, one of the signatures of the Le Male universe, remains at the heart of the fragrance, but this time it is pushed into sharper territory.
Metallic anise brings a cool, spicy intensity, giving the opening a briskness that feels almost like salt hitting skin. Beneath it sits the Biblical benzoin, adding warmth, depth and staying power to the composition.
The result is a fragrance built around contrast: aromatic yet powerful, cool on arrival but warmer as it settles, familiar enough to be recognisably Gaultier, while taking Le Male somewhere decidedly darker.
Who should wear Le Male In Blue?
Le Male In Blue feels made for the man who likes his fragrance to have presence.
Think evening rather than morning. A dark suit rather than office chinos. Dinner, drinks, a date, a hotel bar, or anywhere you want your fragrance to register without announcing itself from across the room.
The combination of lavender, anise and benzoin also gives it enough familiarity for existing Le Male devotees, while the deeper blue treatment offers collectors something more distinctive.
Le Male In Blue is a Limited Edition Eau de Parfum, available in 75ml and 125ml
MenStylePower Verdict
Look, we’ve been a fan of JPG for many many years. Our Founder, Louise Edmonds purchased her first bottle of “Classic JPG’ in 1993. No joke. The marketing around the female torso bottle was a ‘first’ and it’s stayed a favourite every since.
Jean Paul Gaultier has never designed fragrance for men who want to disappear into the background. Our team are wearing ‘Intense” at the moment, and our female staff are stealing it from their office desks. And that’s saying something.
Le Male In Blue continues that tradition, but swaps some of the sailor’s cheekiness for something more commanding. The blue is deeper. The scent is stronger. The mood is more grown up.
If the original Le Male was the sailor leaving shore, Le Male In Blue is the man who came back with a few stories to tell.