PARIS — For the first time in more than 20 years, Giorgio Armani is launching a masculine fragrance. Dubbed I Will, the scent will be fronted by actor Jonathan Bailey.
“It’s something quite meaningful for the house,” said Richard Pinabel, global brand president of Armani Beauty at licensee L’Oréal. “We always take the time to launch, to do it when it’s right.”
Bailey said it was a huge honor to work on the project. The late designer Giorgio Armani was involved in “the whole conception of this new fragrance and the narrative in the story,” Bailey said, speaking from Munich. “I felt very moved and felt the loss of Mr. Armani when he passed away.
“I’ve been part of the Armani family for a few years, as a little bro, and I’d met Mr. Armani,” Bailey said. “So it feels incredible.”
Todd Field directed the I Will campaign, which carries a tagline of: “It’s not about luck, it’s about will.”
“I met the whole Armani team, we talked through the narrative and the creative,” Bailey said. “It felt so bizarrely aligned, because it’s starting with a guy on stage who’s sort of faltering and has to take that leap to overcome his fears.”
Bailey had gone to the Barbican theater, where he will star in a production next summer and where he began his professional acting career at age 6, before receiving the call about the Armani fragrance project.
“So it was a very beautiful alignment,” Bailey said. “And it’s obviously Armani, one of the most elegant and timeless houses. Everything that Armani stands for feels entirely aspirational and appropriate for our times.”
Bailey said he had recently thought a lot about confidence and how one shows up in the world.
“Armani seems to me to be about a commitment to a well-lived life,” Bailey said. “And especially this campaign — to take risks and to be prepared to fail, and for that to be the grounding of your confidence. It’s not to be shouted about. It’s not a spectacle, but it’s something that people can feel in the room, can feel its presence in a film, on a catwalk, on a red carpet.”
He believes it has a commitment to authenticity and identity. “That’s something that feels very celebrated in this campaign,” Bailey said. “Armani always reflected that to me.”
Bailey adored working with Field, a favorite. The actor had never filmed in the U.S., save for two days, and that’s loosely the narrative of the new campaign: The I Will protagonist ultimately lands in Hollywood. “So in a way, I was living out the actual experience,” Bailey said. “We actually shot it in Universal Studios. It’s like Charlie Bucket licking the wall in Willy Wonka’s factory. It felt very meta.”
Bailey’s early recollections of scent come from his grandparents. “It’s all sorts of different iterations of — I think — love,” he said. “Like what I remember in people’s houses.”
Bailey recalled learning clarinet and piano, and the scents of his music teachers. One used to nibble cheese and drink port nearby in a smoky room. “I remember my father’s scent, I remember my grandma — talcum powder — and rose-scented water for my other nana when she used to play ‘Edelweiss,’” the actor said, adding he can remember all of his friends’ scents.
Bailey has accrued various different fragrances for his arsenal as he goes through life. “I Will is a very proud new addition,” Bailey said. “Armani fragrance is an incredible heritage, a magical world to be invited into.”
After wrapping filmmaker John Lee Hancock’s “Monsanto” in Germany, Bailey will be starring in a film called “Pumping Black,” based on the Tour de France.
Given that it’s been 22 years since the launch of Armani Code, the brand’s beauty team started the process by reexamining masculinity.
I Will from Giorgio Armani.
Courtesy of Armani beauty
“It has evolved so much,” Pinabel said.
So how can masculinity be redefined for Armani? “Behind Armani fragrances there’s always been this story of achievement,” Pinabel said. “What is it for the young generation or for men today?”
Studies show that for them, it is the journey that is as important as the final destination. “So [there is] this idea also that there is beauty in the path to success, rather than the success per se,” Pinabel said. “This is how we crafted the story of I Will.”
Expectations regarding fragrances have changed extensively, too. A new generation of young male consumers has come to the market since the successful launch of Stronger With You, from Emporio Armani, in 2017.
“Scentmaxxing” is important for men. “They really look for intensity, longevity, presence,” Pinabel said.
So the Armani Beauty team took the time to build a present, long-lasting, powerful scent.
Pinabel believes I Will is the fragrance most related to Giorgio Armani himself. “Because it really encapsulates his values, which are resilience, hard work, determination — values that are very dear to the maison,” Pinabel said. “Mr. Armani was very known for the power of his will. I Will is the embodiment of this mindset.”
It took four years to develop the juice, with 2,800 trials. The scent, built around the traditionally feminine note of vanilla, was created by DSM-Firmenich master perfumers Nathalie Lorson and Alberto Morillas.
“The idea was to make it masculine, and we play around woody and leather notes,” Pinabel said. “So it’s a contrast. It’s this feminine warmth, but also very masculine.”
Giorgio Armani was highly involved in all aspects of this project. “I worked with him on all the details — on the craft, on the color,” Pinabel said. “For example, the way [the bottle] holds in the hand. Mr. Armani always hated sharp edges, because he said you need to be gentle. We took our time to develop something that was very meaningful.”
The choice of Bailey as the newest Giorgio Armani global fragrance ambassador was obvious. “He has a link with fashion,” Pinabel said. The actor was in a campaign for Emporio Armani eyewear for the fall 2024 season.
“He knows really well the world of the brand,” Pinabel said. “He’s also an actor, which is very important for us.”
Armani Beauty is a long-standing partner of the Venice Film Festival, among other film festivals around the world. “It’s a very strong link with cinema, Mr. Armani and the brand,” Pinabel said. “We also wanted to anchor this story of determination in this territory.”
The global launch of I Will starts in the U.S. on Aug. 15 followed by Europe beginning in September.
The 100-ml. eau de parfum will be priced at 147 euros, the 60-ml. edp at 105 euros and the 30-ml. edp at 30 euros.
The aim for I Will is to reach the top 10 of men’s scents, according to Pinabel. That would translate to about 220 million euros in retail sales over the first 12 months, industry sources say.
Armani historically has been very strong in men’s scents. In the U.S., it places fifth in the category and in Europe, third.
I Will is meant to be a complementary offer to what’s already in the Armani portfolio, both in terms of vision of masculinity and in fragrance.
Aqua di Giò, a fresh marine aquatic scent, was launched 30 years ago and remains in the top 10 of men’s fragrances worldwide. Stronger Than You, a gourmand scent, today ranks fourth in Europe and is in the top 15 in the U.S., where it was relaunched last year.
In feminine fragrances Armani has Sì, which remains in the top 20 even 13 years after its launch. Power of You, from early this year, brings another facet of the brand, according to Pinabel.
Franchise-wise, Armani Beauty has Privè, with unisex couture fragrances; Giorgio Armani, which is premium, and Emporio Armani, embodying the brand’s younger, urban facet. Each year a limited-edition Emporio Armani scent launches.
“So basically, at every price point, every type of personality and every type of fragrance you find your Armani fragrance today,” Pinabel said.
