FRANCE. Real men don’t eat quiche. At least, they didn’t in the 1980s, according to Bruce Feirstein’s eponymous satirical best-seller. More than twenty years on, the burning question du jour is do real men wear eyeliner? Or bronzing powder? Or lip gloss? We are about to find out, as outré French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier and licensee Beauté Prestige International (BPI) prepare to launch a ground-breaking make-up line for men (The Moodie Report, 30 July 2003). Brace yourselves, boys, for Le Mâle Tout Beau Tout Propre – coming soon to a beauty counter near you.
Jean Paul Gaultier’s designs are not for the faint-hearted. Neither are his fragrances, which are created in conjunction with BPI. Now the eternal enfant terrible of fashion is pushing back the boundaries even further as he prepares to strengthen his best-selling Le Mâle men’s scent with Tout Beau – a make-up range – and Tout Propre – a complementary toiletries collection. The products will make their debut in selected domestic and travel retail doors this October.
The most obvious question, of course, is why. Why create a make-up range for men, as opposed to women? “It might be the most obvious, but it’s also the easiest to answer,” BPI director international travel retail Louis-Benoît Barth replies smoothly, as he sits in his Paris office surrounded by the new range of products. “It’s because we are lucky enough to have in Gaultier a designer who loves to transform ordinary or classic concepts into very original creations. He has always done it with his fashion, and he did it with his fragrances too – sometimes people forget that. But when Jean Paul Gaultier Classique was launched ten years ago, with the bottle shaped like a corset and a can for the outer carton, it really surprised everyone. And it proved that you don’t have to create only classical things in order to establish a true classic.
“Then came Le Mâle in 1995. And once again, while the juice featured very classic, perhaps even old-fashioned ingredients such as vanilla and lavender, the torso-shaped flacon and the outer carton can resulted in a mix that surprised everyone – and which has been a huge success. Today Le Mâle is the number one men’s line in Europe in terms of all local markets combined. It’s number two in travel retail worldwide, and in European travel retail it’s number one.”
Barth continues: “So thanks to Gaultier’s creativity, Le Mâle truly brought something different to the men’s market. Essentially, we had a well known fragrance, with an avant-garde image, and a good market share. Basically we thought that Le Mâle was capable of helping us create a totally new market – that of beauty products for men. Of course there are plenty of men’s skincare items out there but it’s the first time anybody has come up with a [colour] concept like this.”
What Gaultier and BPI have created is actually two new ranges – or families of products, as Barth prefers to call them. “One family, Tout Propre [All Clean] comprises new Le Mâle body products,” he explains. “But what is really different is the other family, Tout Beau [All Handsome].” Ah yes, the make-up – but more of that later.
Comprising four skus, Tout Propre is described as an essential grooming line to cleanse face and body, deodorise, moisturise and soothe razor burn. There is a duo soap set, a shower gel, a square stick deodorant and an alcohol-free aftershave lotion – nothing too scary or unusual there. But, as you’d expect from Gaultier, even these everyday products have been given a new twist, thanks largely to their eye-catching packaging.
“There is an old French soap, called Savon Marseille,” explains Barth. “It is very old-fashioned, and it has very clear writing on it. Once again Gaultier has taken this concept and changed it in a very modern way.” Which is how Tout Propre’s distinctive, retro-chic outer packaging was born.
But if Tout Propre is distinctive, then Tout Beau must be eye-popping. The industry’s first bona fide men’s make-up collection was always going to cause a stir, and Gaultier has proved to be the ideal spoon.
The first product in the range is Le Trompe-Fatigue, or Smooth Face Complexion Illuminator, which is presented in an innovative bottle reminiscent of a zippo lighter. “This is an anti-ageing, high-energy moisturising product,” explains Barth. “It’s what you should use when you first wake up in the morning and you are not so pleased with how your face looks. It hydrates and also firms the skin.”
The second item is a bronzing powder – complete with an old-fashioned shaving-style brush – called La Belle Mine, or Better Than Tan. “This is not at all like powder that has been created for women,” emphasises Barth. “It is completely matte, so there is no shiny effect. The goal is to help the consumer look naturally healthy – and not at all as though he is wearing powder.”
And so to lips. Le Beau Baiser, or Sneaky Kiss Mouth-Watering Sticks, is a sub-line which features three hydrating lips balms, plus a roll-on lip gloss. “The lip balms, which come in three different shades, are all matte, so once again the idea is that the men who use them will look completely natural, and not as though they are wearing lipstick,” points out Barth.
Next up are nails, with Les Beaux Ongles/Strong Nails. “This is not a nail polish, as that is not a masculine product,” underlines Barth. “What we have come up with is a product that looks like a highlighter, and which is used in a very simple way. Again, the product is matte, and totally transparent. The goal is to nourish and protect.”
Which leaves the eyes. Les Beaux Yeux/Sharp Eyes is a double-ended product, shaped like a pen, which incorporates a concealer at one end and a blueish-black kohl eyeliner at the other.
In addition to this core range, BPI has created a travel-retail exclusive, which will be unveiled at the forthcoming TFWA World Exhibition, and made available to the trade from Spring 2004. “In Cannes we will present a Tout Beau Tout Propre product,” confirms Barth. “This will be a 125ml Le Mâle spray, with a small shower gel from the Tout Propre collection, and the natural lip balm from Tout Beau. The set will be available worldwide in all our tax free points of sale, and not just in the doors we have selected for the launch of the Tout Beau Tout Propre range.”
Interestingly, among all the core product descriptions, the word natural is a recurring one – with good reason. Barth is at great pains to convey the key tenet of this new collection. “In summary, Tout Beau is a family of products where the goal is to help men enhance what nature has given them,” he declares. “It is most definitely not about making them look made-up.” In other words, think deliciously-groomed David Beckham as opposed to overly-done-up drag queen.
ON THE RECORD: “IN SUMMARY, TOUT BEAU IS A FAMILY OF PRODUCTS WHERE THE GOAL IS TO HELP MEN ENHANCE WHAT NATURE HAS GIVEN THEM. IT IS MOST DEFINITELY NOT ABOUT MAKING THEM LOOK MADE-UP.” – LOUIS-BENOÃŽT BARTH
But will men – literally – buy it? Will your average heterosexual consumer really be tempted by products he might consider to have been created solely for the gay community? Or is this all just a cynical ploy to drum up publicity for a range that ultimately only women will buy?
Yes, yes and no, counters Barth. “Obviously, this is a revolution within the men’s market,” he admits. “We are the first company to create this kind of product”¦but we know for sure that this market exists, and that there are men who already use these sorts of products, but who borrow them from their wives or girlfriends.
“With Tout Beau, we are targeting all men,” he insists meaningfully – so, not just the pink pound. “We envisage our consumer to be aged about 18-30, definitely very trendy, and looking for products which are perhaps more avant-garde, but still very simply, manly and natural. Maybe some women will buy them, but Tout Beau is not for them, and that is not the goal. These products have all been adapted specifically to address the needs of men.”
And how. It’s not the just the formulations and the packaging that have been tailored to fulfil masculine requirements, but point-of-sale activity, merchandising and even print advertising too.
“Take the lip balm, for example,” says Barth. “The sticks are shaped differently from women’s lipsticks, for ease of application. However, when it comes to presenting these products on-counter, we will do it differently. We will create special point-of-sale compacts, from which men can apply product with their fingers. That’s a much more masculine action than sampling directly from stick to lip.”
BPI has also recognised the importance of leaving men to their own devices. “Especially at the beginning, we think men will need to be secure and for that they need to be alone,” explains Barth. “Men could get concerned if they have too many consultants around them, so we are trying to make everything very self-service-oriented. And what consultants there are will be getting special training. We’re investing a lot to make sure they know the right way to speak to men about beauty.”
BPI fully admits it has a big educational job on its hands. “Yes, there is a specific message we have to get across to the consumer,” acknowledges Barth. “That is why we are working only with retail partners who are capable of helping us convey it. We are not going to launch Tout Beau Tout Propre in all our 10,000 points of sale worldwide. We will launch it in roughly 20% of our local market distribution and in 10% of travel retail.”
ON THE RECORD: “WE ARE NOT GOING TO LAUNCH TOUT BEAU TOUT PROPRE IN ALL OUR 10,000 POINTS OF SALE WORLDWIDE. WE WILL LAUNCH IT IN ROUGHLY 20% OF OUR LOCAL MARKET DISTRIBUTION AND IN 10% OF TRAVEL RETAIL.” – LOUIS-BENOÃŽT BARTH
He continues: “We selected our travel retail doors according to certain criteria. They are nearly all airports; they all have a team of BPI consultants capable of explaining this new concept to men; and they all handle a certain customer profile”¦space was another important factor. So naturally, we will be in Heathrow. But we will also be in Faro, which might seem unexpected.”
In all, Tout Beau Tout Propre will be available in 50 travel retail doors worldwide, from 15 October. The main focus will be within Europe, with Heathrow, Gatwick, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Vienna among the main locations.
So what sort of reaction did BPI get when it first presented its new products to its travel retail partners? “They were completely surprised,” says Barth. “But they were also quite pleased, because we had created something totally new and different. Of course, they were full of questions. But during the four/five-month period of meetings, gradually we began to see a difference; that they understood the potential. Yes, it will be a challenge – for everyone. But now, like us, the retailers are convinced that there is an opportunity to create more traffic and to entice some new kinds of customers that maybe we don’t get so often into the stores.”
In fact, so keen were some retailers that BPI was approached by a number that were not on its chosen list. “What was important there, was to explain that our decision was nothing against them. Rather, it’s an issue of time,” explains Barth. “If we do this too early with certain retailers, it will not be useful for anybody. Far better to wait six months, one year, two years, whatever – and do it properly when everyone is ready. Why rush things? When you are first, you are not obliged to succeed in one day. It’s important that you give yourself plenty of time to convince the customer about your products”¦we don’t expect to change consumer habits overnight.”
So what exactly does BPI expect? Barth declines to be drawn on numbers, emphasising that the company’s focus has had more to do with creating something different that will hopefully drive up footfall. “Maybe we will progress slowly, maybe we will go faster – it all depends on the consumers,” says Barth. “It doesn’t really matter, because we are not in a hurry. And we neither expect nor want huge volumes.”
ON THE RECORD: “MAYBE WE WILL PROGRESS SLOWLY, MAYBE WE WILL GO FASTER – IT ALL DEPENDS ON THE CONSUMERS. IT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER, BECAUSE WE ARE NOT IN A HURRY. AND WE NEITHER EXPECT NOR WANT HUGE VOLUMES. – LOUIS-BENOÃŽT BARTH
But can Barth – and indeed BPI – really be as relaxed about results as they make out? The company has clearly invested a lot of time and money in this launch. The financial outlay at least needs to be recouped at some point. And ultimately, make-up – even for women – is never a sure thing. Just ask Unilever Cosmetics International (UCI), which in April confirmed that it would be ceasing production on its three-year old colour and skincare collection for Calvin Klein. If UCI couldn’t convert all the might of Klein’s huge fragrance franchise into a successful make-up range, what chance does BPI stand of establishing beauty for men? Isn’t Barth worried about losing his shirt – and potentially a whole lot more – on this latest venture?
If Barth does have concerns, he’s hiding them well. “No, I don’t think that there is a big risk involved,” he replies firmly. “Firstly, we know for sure that there is a market for these products. The consumers exist. How numerous these consumers are is the only question mark. But because we have allowed ourselves plenty of time, there is no real risk from an economic point of view.
“Neither is there a risk from an image point of view,” he continues. “Sure, the products are avant-garde, but that is exactly what we have come to expect from Jean Paul Gaultier. He is one of the rare creators who can afford to make products that are so very different.”
And this uniqueness should stand BPI in good stead when it comes to potential competition. Not too many other companies are likely to trek down the trail blazed by Tout Beau Tout Propre. “Of course there are bound to be some followers,” concedes Barth, “but there are not many who could get away with trying it. This is simply not the territory for the industry’s big names [think Lauder or Lancôme, for example]. Even we could not have done this with say, Issey Miyake; it would have made no sense. Gaultier is the first and one of the very few with the notoriety and the talent to pull this off.”
So is Barth himself a zealous convert? And if so, which products in particular does he favour? “I do use the line,” he confirms. “There are some products with which I am very comfortable, and some with which I am not so comfortable – at least for today. In that regard I am exactly like our target consumer.”
He explains: “I am very confident with the bronzing powder, and also with the lip balm, whereas I do not use the kohl pencil – yet. Maybe I will in a year’s time, when my habits change. I am what I call a short-term consumer for certain items and a medium-term consumer for others. I am sure that there are a lot of men like this out there. But that is not a worry. Because we have plenty of time to convince and convert everybody.”
In addition to his convictions about quiche, Feirstein also held strong views about lunacy and intellect: namely that the distance between insanity and genius was measured only by success. Only time will tell whether BPI’s make-up for men will be considered madness or masterstroke. But if anyone can make a go of it, Gaultier can.
