Adonis Bosso

Adonis Bosso is an Ivorian-Canadian model and musician born in Côte d’Ivoire and raised in Montreal. Before modeling became his profession, he studied Special Care Counseling and worked with children with disabilities, an interest shaped by growing up with an autistic brother. His route into fashion began through a girlfriend’s introduction to an agency, followed by several years of attempts to establish himself internationally.

In a 2022 interview with the CFDA, Adonis recalled working at H&M when he signed with DNA Models in 2012. An H&M campaign booking soon put him on the other side of the business. He credited e-commerce work for SSENSE with teaching him how clothes and fabrics behave on camera, an education in modeling as a craft. Behind the recognizable septum piercing was a working understanding of the product he had been hired to present.

His career developed through advertising for Dolce & Gabbana and Theory, alongside runway appearances for designers including Vivienne Westwood and Thom Browne. Visibility also became a responsibility. Speaking to Vogue in 2015, he described the importance of representing dark-skinned Black men beyond established stereotypes. Messages from younger people who saw themselves reflected in his work gave that visibility a personal meaning.

Music provided another way to express himself. In a 2021 interview with Hunger, Adonis explained how poems became songs after someone encouraged him to record, eventually leading to a record deal. He identified love as the message he wanted his music to communicate and perseverance as his proudest achievement in fashion.

Fatherhood became part of his fashion work too. In 2021, he appeared with his son, Saphir, in Fear of God’s loungewear imagery. The photographs brought a relationship central to his life into the work, showing him as both a model and a father.