Portrait

Nadège Dubospertus was born on 16 March 1968 in Montfermeil, in the Paris region. Her mother comes from Réunion. She is studying economics at university when, in 1988, a young photographer spots her in a Paris street.

Her first cover appears in July 1989 in 20 Ans magazine, photographed by Barbro Anderson. Four months after her debut, Herb Ritts chooses her for the international campaign of a hair-care brand: her very short hair, her smile and her direct gaze become her signature.

Within a few months she is on the covers of the leading fashion magazines, from Vogue Paris, twice, to Elle, Marie Claire, W, Madame and Mirabella. She poses for Patrick Demarchelier, Arthur Elgort, Michel Comte, Albert Watson, Walter Chin, Peter Lindbergh, Steven Meisel, Gilles Bensimon and Bruce Weber.

Muse to Giorgio Armani and Gianni Versace, she becomes the face of international campaigns, among them Ralph Lauren, Chanel for the Allure fragrance, Sportmax and Versus. On the runway she walks for Versace, Armani, Chanel, Dior, Valentino, Calvin Klein, Karl Lagerfeld, Azzedine Alaïa, Laura Biagiotti, Krizia and Roberto Cavalli.

In 1995 she co-hosts Déjà le retour with Jean-Luc Delarue, the Sunday talk show on France 2 where actors, singers and directors come to chat. In 1996 she appears in George Michael's Fastlove video. In 1999 Mercedes-Benz chooses her as the face of the European launch of the Smart.

She returns to the runway regularly: for Roberto Cavalli in 2000, for Gianfranco Ferré's 25th anniversary in 2002, for Dsquared2 in 2008. In 2009 Bob Krieger photographs her for the opening of the First show at Vicenzaoro, followed by Settimio Benedusi for the Enzo Fusco campaign.

Based in Milan for more than twenty years and known in Italy as Nadège du Bospertus, she sits on the jury of Italia's Next Top Model, on Sky Vivo, from 2007 to 2009, for three seasons.

In 2012 she works with Amica magazine, for which she keeps a fashion notebook on the spring-summer 2013 collections, and signs her first styling series. In 2018 she publishes Strong & Chic with Vallardi. She also supports the Make-A-Wish Italia foundation.