Jean Paul Gaultier Interviewed by L'Express on Beauty & Perfume {Fragrant Reading} {Scented Images & Adverts} {What Celebs Like to Wear}

There is a nice interview with Jean Paul Gaultier in L'Express on the occasion of the launch of his Monsieur line of beauty products, including his first ever - reportedly this is how they present it - Eau de Cologne called Eau du Matin.

"Monsieur" was chosen as a name for the line because the  French designer believes in the return of Dandysm. Gaultier thinks that ideas about masculine beauty and personal care started to evolve back in the 1970s thanks to the hippies and later rock stars like David Bowie and Boy George.....

On the streets of Paris he notices that men wear much more extravagant hairdos than women.

He talks about his childhood as a soft-tempered boy ridiculed by classmates at school and his admiration for a small girl in his class then who had very pale skin and flamboyant red hair and who was mocked by everyone else. He thought she was the most beautiful little girl.

The scoop: we also learn what perfumes JPG wore and still wears, 

"J'ai débuté avec l'eau de Cologne Mont St Michel. C'est ce que s'autorisait mon père... Puis j'ai eu ma période Vétiver, de Carven, suivi de Giorgio Beverly Hills, un parfum assez invraisemblable que portait Boy George. Aujourd'hui, j'alterne entre le mien, le Mâle, et celui de Comme des garçons, qui contient des notes de clou de girofle."

You can read the interview in French here as well as watch 2 videos where he is being grilled on the topic of beauty and asked to comment on quotes about it.

His own position is that beauty is a form of politeness.