Beyoncé may have traded the dance floor for the saddle for her Cowboy Carter era, but she’s still bringing queer excellence to the mainstream—now through the country music scene. A new photoshoot shows Beyoncé modeling a fiery western getup in homage to the legendary Black trans model Connie Fleming.

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On Monday, fashion house Mugler shared a photo intended for the Cowboy Carter vinyl. Beyoncé poses beside a red motorcycle in sparkling crimson chaps and corset while a star blazes in the background.

The look, which comes from Mugler’s 1992 Spring Summer “Cow-Boys” collection, was originally pioneered on the runway by Fleming.

Drag Race stars Mistress Isabelle Brooks and Naomi Smalls have likewise paid their dues to the queer fashion icon.

Thierry Mugler, who passed away in 2022, frequently pushed boundaries on the runaway in terms of race, age and gender identity. Fleming recalled how Mugler and some other legendary designers championed her in a time when the professional opportunities for Black trans models were scarce.

“Both Thierry, Vivienne, and [Jean Paul] Gaultier – and there were a couple of others – wanted to show the world beauty, in all of its aspects and configurations, and they didn’t put it out there as a spectacle,” she recalled in a 2023 interview with Models.com. “It was like, this is real, I am conveying to you something that is not only a dream, but it’s the world we live in.”

Unfortunately, this did not last. Fleming was eventually outed and found herself suddenly on the outside of the fashion community and the target of a media-led moral panic, not unlike the challenges the trans community faces today.

Even as transphobia halted her runway career, Fleming flourished in the NYC nightlife. She recently made a return to the runaway for Mugler’s 2024 Spring Summer line. And now one of the biggest musical artists around is honoring Fleming’s legacy.

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