While much of the niche fragrance industry has spent the past decade blurring gender boundaries, Urbanbeast is taking the opposite approach. Founded by Caroline Tronel — an ISIPCA graduate who built her expertise at Juliette Has A Gun in both Paris and Hong Kong — the new fragrance house is unapologetically dedicated to men, making them not merely its target audience but the very foundation of its identity.
Officially unveiled on June 25 at Printemps Haussmann during Paris Men’s Fashion Week, Urbanbeast is currently available exclusively through the Paris department store and the brand’s website, ahead of a planned expansion into the U.S. market.
At a time when many independent fragrance brands champion gender-neutral compositions and invite consumers to move beyond the traditional distinction between masculine and feminine scents, Urbanbeast embraces a deliberately masculine universe. Rather than following the prevailing unisex movement, the brand seeks to reaffirm men’s fragrance as a distinct category, with creations conceived specifically for a male audience.
Built around a collection of three fragrances created "for the modern man," Urbanbeast presents scent as a tool for self-affirmation. Its brand narrative revolves around values such as instinct, ambition, confidence, presence, and self-mastery.
The concept extends well beyond the olfactory dimension. Caroline Tronel, who also composed the fragrances, says she drew on the work of neuroscientist Rachel Herz to explore the relationship between scent and emotion, with the ambition of creating fragrances intended to reinforce confidence, sharpen focus, or stimulate motivation.
This positioning is reflected throughout the brand. The bottle, whose silhouette evokes the male torso, and the names of the three fragrances — Billionaires’ Jungle, Walk the Show, and Out for Legend — all reinforce a universe built around leadership, achievement, and surpassing one’s limits.
Crafted in Grasse, the three eaux de parfum are available in 100ml bottles priced at EUR 280 and are claimed to offer more than twelve hours of longevity with a strong scent trail. Each is associated with specific situations — from job interviews and business negotiations to sports competitions and public speaking — underscoring Urbanbeast’s ambition to position fragrance as a performance-enhancing accessory for today’s ambitious man.
Beyond the collection itself, Urbanbeast raises an interesting question for the fragrance industry. After years of niche perfumery embracing gender fluidity and promoting fragrances beyond the traditional masculine–feminine divide, is there room for brands that once again assert a distinct masculine identity?
For Caroline Tronel, the answer is not a return to conventional notions of masculinity. Instead, she advocates a vision of the modern man defined by discipline, emotional balance, and self-control rather than dominance or aggression. Even so, Urbanbeast’s decision to position itself exclusively for men marks a clear departure from one of niche perfumery’s prevailing trends. Whether this contrarian strategy resonates with consumers remains to be seen, but it undoubtedly makes the young brand one to watch.
