14 DAY TRIAL // A little over two years ago, one style magazine, Candy, was getting a lot of people talking for featuring actor James Franco in drag for the cover, in an obvious bid to erase gender barriers and prove that beauty isn’t limited by them. Candy is doing it again.
The latest issue of the self-titled “world’s first transversal style magazine” brings on the cover a woman who bears a striking resemblance to Michelle Obama, from the hairdo down to the incredibly toned arms.
However, appearances can be deceiving: the woman is actually trans model Connie Fleming, and she was chosen for the cover precisely because she resembles the First Lady and because she’s not famous, writes publisher Luis Venegas explains.
“I especially love the cover story, which for the first time isn't a super-popular star, but a fabulous, beautiful black transwoman channeling a politician who looks pretty much like Michelle Obama,” Venegas explains.
“I remember back in early 2007 when the Democratic Party’s nominees were narrowed down between two ‘controversial’ stereotypes never before seen for presidency: a black man, Barack Obama; and a woman, Hillary Rodham Clinton,” the publisher further says.
It was then that he realized the need for a change. While he has no say on who gets to move into the White House, Venegas can at least propose new models to look up to: in this sense, Connie would be one of them.
“At that time, I thought, ‘when will the time come when these archaic walls break down and the White House will be occupied by, for example, a black, transsexual woman?’ At that moment I decided someday I would toy with this idea on one of my covers of Candy. Connie Fleming is the model and she's done a fabulous performance, photographed by Danielle Levitt and styled by Brad Goreski,” Venegas says.
The two alternate covers are in the photo attached to this article.