be yourself, not the history of others” – Corriere.it

There are men for whom the expression “male beauty” is narrow, reductive. Why they combine a disarming smile with the Greek perfection of the body, Apollonian view. As if they had a “flower heart”. This is true Austin Butler, 31, a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination – plus a twelve-minute applause at the Cannes Film Festival – for playing Elvis in Baz Luhrmann’s biopic of the same name last year. This “flowery heart” did not escape the strategists The beauty of Yves Saint Laurentwho decided: the face and spirit of the new men’s fragrance is Butler, tall, natural elegance, deep voice, from Southern California A choice full of nuances: the brand returns to men’s perfumery after six years and is inspired by its origins, to the famous black-and-white photo that appeared in 1975 in Vogue France, in which Yves Saint Laurent is depicted wearing only glasses. To launch the first perfume for men, the most forward-thinking designer simply thought of stripping naked, convinced that The roots of elegance lie in who you are. This explains the name of the new men’s fragrance MYSLF..

Pronounced, of course, as “my person”, even if the handwriting belongs to generation Z, that is, thirty years old, like Austin.

. When I greet him on a sultry New York afternoon, Butler is dressed in an all-black suit, from shirt to jacket and trousers. He is tall and kind, of non-trivial beauty, angular and soft at the same time. I wonder and ask him what a thirty year old American actor sees today in a black and white icon like Yves Saint Laurent. TO”Visionary quality of dreams, which then become projects, he replies. Today, everything is more elusive, it sometimes becomes difficult for people of my generation to make plans. That’s why I and I think other actors my age are inspired by the icons of the past. I am looking at Paul Newman, James Dean, Gary OldmanTO”.

I feel Butler, like other thirty-somethings, is not looking for certainty, but for clear, authentic models. Because driven by the desire to “be yourself”, do not become puppets who live in front of others. If Butler allows himself to move from a very sensual role as Elvis to the role of (including the bald) villain from Dune II, then it will be almost a modern Timothee Chalamet appeared on the red carpet in Venice in a red jumpsuit with gender variability. and bare back. Karavadzhsky. So I ask Austin how he experiences his sensuality. “For me, that means being always fully present with your feelings. Stay close, don’t be distracted

, try and experiment with survivability.” Butler speaks of a generation of “rebels, but conscious”, with certain ideas and ready to fight for their approval. The perfume she wears hints at this range of sensations: togetherness of white petals and hardwood that the “noses” of Daniela Andrieu, Christophe Reynaud and Antoine Meisondier were considered the ideal embodiment of modern masculinity. Who needs not so much strength as balance sensual. Flowers that coexist with the tree. Masculinity drenched.

In the beginning there is me orange flowers – harvested by hand in the gardens of Tunisia – then a hint of bergamot and then patchouli and AmbrofixTM, a natural biotechnological ingredient derived from sugar cane, hence the “woody signature” as master perfumers say. I want to ask Butler what was the first smell he remembers. Grew up in Anaheim, the Disney Park City in Orange County. Austin retains dual olfactory memory: “The sweet, almost cloying scent of my mother and the spicy scent of my father. Sometimes I would steal my father’s perfume and spray it on myself, convinced that this simple gesture would turn me into an adult. This memory mixes masculine and feminine with an immediacy that only childhood possesses. Then you grow up and labels come to you: male or female, black or white. And yet Generation Z is the first to declare—not so much proudly as naturally—gender variability. It can also mean simply opening up the back, as Chalamet did, or abandoning stereotypes.

Master Perfumer (and Vice President) Daniela Andrieu gives the example of an orange blossom, which she identifies as “Proteus”, from the name of a Greek deity who transforms: it is universal, free, does not accept clichés and suits everyone. It is the ideal of beauty that inspires Austin Butler, and when I ask him how he experiences being attractive, he replies:Knowing that beauty changes, it develops, it is perceived differently even depending on the day. Today I like something, tomorrow, maybe I will pass by and not even see it. Still the freedom to present yourself to others day in and day out. But how difficult is it for a young actor to be himself when he has a character to put on and spin? Butler thinks about it and then replies, “We live in a world where there are many stories from social networks and the media. We risk being just someone else’s story, really. Being yourself is not a given, but an achievement. It’s the same for me: I observe myself every day and every day I try to understand how I feel.”

No questions about his personal life as agreed (not even about the perfect pairing the actor is making with model Kaia Gerber), but a final curiosity about how thirtysomethings live their independence. “It seems to me,” concludes the actor, “that we live with a strong sense of community. Solidarity between the heroes of a generation. We talk about “we” even if “I” is strong.”