AND GAULTIER CREATED MAN: LE MALE — PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

“And Gaultier Created Man: Le Male – Past, Present, Future” celebrates Jean Paul Gaultier’s iconic fragrance Le Male. The exhibition will take place in Paris, where from June 12 to June 15, 2025, the couture house at 325 rue Saint-Martin will open its doors to the public.

image credit: JEAN-BAPTISTE MONDINO

“And Gaultier Created Man: Le Male – Past, Present, Future” is conceived as a ‘Factory of Pleasure’ in three acts - mirroring the olfactory structure of a fragrance: top note, heart note, and bottom note. Expect sensory installations, irresistible XXL bottles, and a locker room pierced with olfactory glory holes. The final act salutes Gaultier’s legacy of fearless creativity through a new wave of talented artists such as Harry Nuriev, Mahmoud Khaled, Alireza Shojaian, Bashar Murad, Pepo Moreno, as well as students from Lausanne’s ECAL art school.

Le Male portrays Gaultier’s vision of masculinity, always celebrating identities that challenge the norm, turning the male body into an object of desire. Le Male pays homage to visionaries like Cocteau, Genet, Fassbinder, and Tom of Finland - artists who fantasised free, unfiltered bodies in pursuit of self- expression. Think corsets and skirts for men: provocative designs that redefined what it means to be masculine.

Le Male is not just one man. He is many men at once. Why?
Because Gaultier said so.