For our second special people article, we present Claude-Emmanuelle Gajan-Maull: a trans woman, plastic artist, actress, and activist for trans rights. She recently participated in the feminist manifesto clip “Balance ton quoi” by Angèle, and plays in “Lux Aeterna” by Gaspard Noé presented as an exclusive at the Cannes Film Festival, after an appearance in the award-winning “Climax” in 2018. In short, remember her name.
Our Special People inspire us with their style, their journey, their way of living their life, or their relationship to perfume. Sillages Paris is a Haute Parfumerie company that wants to celebrate originality and singularity: both in the perfume, and in the people who wear it. Indeed, we believe that each of us is special, so each fragrance should be special. Sometimes we meet people that truly inspire us, and it’s their stories that we want to share with you. These special people can be people we run into, or our own customers we love to meet. For each of them, we have created the perfect Sillage.
Claude-Emmanuelle is one of those magnetic people that we remember for a long time. Her face resembles that of a retro-futuristic idol carved in stone. Its elegance is expressed in an ultra-feminine, warlike, even neo-Gothic style, which borrows as much from the world of Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy as from the armor of Alexander McQueen’s super-women. She often shows her inspirations in IG stories (@claude.emmanuelle), whose common thread is this contrast between hyper-sensuality and reinforced concrete protection. The shell she wears is the symbol of a fight for the destiny she has chosen for herself, and for the rights of the entire trans community.
A multi-talented artist
Claude-Emmanuelle has a sensitivity on the surface of her skin that expresses itself on multiple supports. Marked by a certain aesthetic sense, this visual artist has touched on everything. A model and personal shopper for major brands and department stores in Paris, Claude-Emmanuelle is also a muse, and a figure of the new generation of French artists.
Many are attracted by her aura and want to associate themselves with this extraordinary personality. She embodies a new generation that is intensely singular, advocating the right to be different, inclusive, and tolerant. Curious about everything and generous, Claude-Emmanuelle does not hesitate to collaborate and support young emerging brands who champion this message–like Sillages Paris or the lingerie brand Superbe. Her journey and the values she carries with determination are inspiring.
Claude-Emmanuelle: “Metamorphosis”
Claude-Emmanuelle graduated top of her Fine Arts class despite a sensitivity and subjects of expression far from the standards of the art world. When she set up an exhibition under the theme of “Metamorphosis” examining the question of gender, the venue refused to exhibit it. But it took more than that to stop our girl on fire! After graduating, she left her hometown to start her life far from everything that had defined her in spite of herself. And it was after a tragic event from which she miraculously escaped that she made the irrevocable decision in 2014 to “reveal herself to the world” as she really is (a woman), and to begin her transition.
While her decision is an obvious one, the road has not been easy. Confronted with people’s judgment, even within the medical profession, she sometimes feels accused of “usurping” her identity. This is because the transition process is a physical and moral struggle, with oneself and with the gaze of others, which could finish off even the most resistant. But the goal of “being aligned with oneself” is a quest that one pursues while trying not to look back.
Claude-Emmanuelle‘s visceral commitment
With the advent of social networks that allow people to find a community, exchange ideas, support each other, and make their voices heard, Claude-Emmanuelle seeks to make a difference for trans people. For years, she has shared her experiences with transparency and generosity to those who follow her because she knows how visibility and feeling heard can change everything.
At this stage of transition, Claude-Emmanuelle admits to having existential and fundamental questions. Can we forget her struggles while we enter the “norm”? Her values have driven her to never forget where she comes from, and for years she has actively promoted the visibility, respect, and dignity of the trans community. When we met her last March, a few days before March 31, World Trans Visibility Day, her first thought was how the community could benefit from our collaboration. So, we decided together to donate the profits from the sales of our partnership to the National Transgender Association.
A fragrance as special as Claude-Emmanuelle
If it was for her style that we had a crush on Claude-Emmanuelle Gajan-Maull, it was for her authenticity and generosity that we fell in love with her. When we met her, we saw a woman sincerely interested and curious about others, honest, but also deeply generous and sensitive. She is a golden girl who deserves to be known.
For her Sillage, Claude-Emmanuelle explained that when we transition, we gradually become “transparent”, and that many forget or no longer perceive the path that has been taken to get there. So she wanted to create with us a perfume that would bear witness to this passage and this blossoming. A Sillage like a sensory tattoo of where she comes from, and where she is going: a gourmet fragrance, sweet and round, but contrasted by precious and ashy woods full of character. The beauty of what her Sillage means to her, a manifest fragrance she can no longer part with, has been the greatest gift for us. And, of course, she wears it divinely well.
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