Poster Chris Stapleton October 27, 2023 Dos Equis Pavilion Dallas, TX Shirt

While the crimson silk smoking jacket and pajama shirt he wore in the Savage x Fenty show was right up his alley—“I just felt like a king wearing that, honestly”—Adu-Watts is partial to tailoring when off-duty. “A three-piece suit is where I feel, like, most ready to just conquer,” he says. “I love the whole 1920s or 1950s suit vibe. I wish that’s how everyone dressed still! I love to go to thrift stores and find old suits, or go to antique places and find little cuffs and tie pins and pocket watch chains. That’s where I go crazy—I have a lot of stuff.” Izaak Adu-Watts walks for Burberry’s fall 2020 collection at London Fashion Week in Februrary 2020. Photo: Filippo Fior / Gorunway.com Adu-Watts was born and raised in the British countryside, traveling mostly to accompany Sade on tour, but he now lives in Fresno with his wife, hairdresser and artist Emily Margaret Shakeshaft. They got married in Hawaii earlier this year, following a whirlwind romance. The heat of the Californian desert isn’t always conducive to wearing his preferred three-piece suits, but it does provide him the space and mental clarity to pursue his greatest passions: drawing and painting. “I’ve been making art my whole life really,” says Adu-Watts, who first studied art in the U.K. before undertaking a carpentry and joinery course. “I just love to do anything where I can use my hands. Whenever I’d go out with my mom and her friends for dinner or something, we would be at the table and I’d just be drawing away.”

Poster Chris Stapleton October 27, 2023 Dos Equis Pavilion Dallas, TX Shirt, hoodie, tank top, sweater, long sleeve tee

And across his various endeavors, from modeling to painting to woodwork, he notes that his mom’s support provides the greatest validation of all. “My mom is one of my best friends; she’s the most incredible person,” he says. “She always says to me, as long as you’re happy and you feel like what you’re doing is right, I’m proud of you. She’s happy that I’m doing something that I really enjoy. I’m in a good place, and I’m enjoying my life, and that’s the most important thing of all.”In the meantime, however, Adu-Watts has a more urgent task to attend to: tidying his home ahead of his wife’s return from a few days in San Francisco. “She rang me earlier and said, ‘I might come back today actually,’” he says, laughing again, as his recently-adopted parrot Vlad squawks in the background. “I’ve just been painting all week so I’m like, ‘oh my God, the house is a mess!’ So I’ll be spending the rest of the day cleaning up.” It seems even a Rihanna-approved runway star has to do the housework. Models: they’re just like us.