Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Grooming
  3. News

Calvin Klein’s New Cologne Pairs with the Fresh Face of Richard Madden

By
Image used with permission by copyright holder

It doesn’t take a rocketman to see that Calvin Klein’s selection of actor Richard Madden for its new Defy fragrance is a great choice. Announced Thursday, July 1, the former Game of Thrones star will be forevermore linked with the scent, which follows a long company (and industry) tradition to personify their fragrances. As one might expect, the announcement was followed by a promotional video and a slew of imagery.

Related Guides

Recommended Videos

The 35-year-old Scottish actor, who previously played Robb Stark in HBO’s GoT and agent John Reid in the Elton John biopic Rocketman, joins some truly rarified air as a CK fragrance face. The company has a long history of tapping some of Hollywood’s most in-demand men for its campaigns, and past spokesmen include Ed Burns (Eternity, 2014), Jake Gyllenhaal (Eternity, 2017), Charlie Hunnam (Reveal), Alexander Skarsgård (Encounter Fresh), and Jamie Dornan (Free), among many others. Beyond its fragrances, the company has come up with some truly iconic ads featuring men across generations wearing its clothing and underwear, including Mark Wahlberg in its boxers and Justin Bieber’s blatant plagiarism of the Wahlberg concept, just to name a few.

“It’s been an exciting opportunity to partner with Calvin Klein on this new launch for Calvin Klein Fragrances,” Madden said in a release. “Making the Calvin Klein Defy campaign was an amazing experience; I’m excited about this partnership and our work together.”

Crafted by Anne Flipo (Burberry, Coach, Giorgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, and just about everyone else), along with Pascal Gaurin and Loc Dong, Defy skews toward the woody, with a Haitian-sourced vetiver oil, and it’s featured in an asymmetrical glass bottle with a denim-blue box and cap, the latter two of which are an homage to the company’s legendary jeans.

Calvin Klein isn’t the only fragrance company to tap Hollywood leading men to epitomize their scents; Dior is probably the greatest example of doing it right, right now, and it’s practically sunk a mint into Johnny Depp, utilizing the famous Disney actor since its scent’s release in 2015. Some say they can still hear Depp burying his jewelry in the desert as a buffalo wanders by.

While Calvin Klein Defy won’t hit Macy’s and other department stores until August, the hype machine is fired up, and we expect to be seeing wall-to-wall playback of Madden’s new ad in front of every YouTube video we watch until then (which, to be clear, we don’t necessarily view as a negative). Will the scent become a tentpole fragrance for Calvin Klein, as CK One and Eternity have been? Or will it fade like a seasonal scent, with Madden’s mug the only reminder? We’ll withhold judgment until August, but in the meantime, we’ll enjoy Madden as the latest in a long line of leading men to rep the brand.

Jon Gugala
Jon Gugala
Former Features Writer
Jon Gugala is a freelance writer and photographer based in Nashville, Tenn. A former gear editor for Outside Magazine, his… Read Full Bio
Topics
Grooming
How The Beard Club Helped Me Grow a Beard
John Jones after beard growth

I was a failure … the facial hair equivalent of a 90-pound weakling. It wasn’t so much that I couldn’t grow a beard; it was more that whatever facial hair I did grow felt like a Velcroed-on Brillo pad: super uncomfortable and leaving my skin itchy and broken out. As Movember and No-Shave November came and went, I made two separate attempts at beard growth … each ending with a sprint into the bathroom when I could stand it no more, trimmer in hand, welcoming back the clean-shaven face I know so well. It wasn’t the first time I’d given up on hirsute happiness. 

When December rolled around, I decided to pay attention to an email I’d gotten for something called The Beard Club, a subscription service for beard care products. The Club’s premise was “helping first-timers as well as seasoned hirsute gentleman to up their grooming game.” I couldn’t resist and threw down the gauntlet. Could they help even me? After all, the site’s tag line is “Don’t Grow it Alone.”

Read more
Grooming
The best-selling colognes for men (because some things are popular for a reason)
mens cologne on black satin

The way you smell is the message you send before you even open your mouth or shake a hand. When someone meets you for the first time, your style can give them a great first impression from a distance. But then your cologne will be the storyteller up close. Smelling good is one of the main points of men’s grooming. Soaps, shampoos, lotions, all fragrant and elevating your attractiveness, and ultimately, your memorability.

That is why popular men’s colognes become, well, popular. These are the scents that stand the test of time. The ones that linger on your shirt when you leave, and your girl wears it to bed. The kind that stays around in the office (subtly, not drifting throughout the office because you take a bath in it) after you have gone. And the kind that sparks memories of great dates in the past when she smells it on you before leaving the house. Of course, the best of the best sell like the best of the best. And these are the colognes that sell better than any other year in and year out.

Read more
Grooming
The Manual’s Grooming Awards Are Open for Submissions
Head, Person, Face

For eight years, The Manual’s Grooming Awards have done one thing: told readers which products actually work. Not which ones arrived in the nicest box, not which brand bought the most media. Which ones survived months of daily use on our own faces, in our own showers, and were still worth reaching for at the end.

This year, we’re opening the awards to submissions.

Read more