Trans Model Riley Minford Stuns On The Runway In Miami Swim Week Debut
The Sydney-based model made a striking entrance in bold swimwear, marking her first appearance on an international runway.
Australian model Riley Minford made her global runway debut at Miami Swim Week, walking for UK-based brand Oh Polly in a series of swimwear looks. The 28-year-old, who is transgender and based in Sydney, called the experience a dream come true and said that even though she was terrified before stepping onto the catwalk for the first time, she “ate it up.”
The footage backs her up—smoldering in a red cut-out one-piece and commanding in a barely-there white bikini, she owned the runway.
If you scroll through her Instagram—where the caption under a slow-motion runway clip reads, “You can call me miss miami swim until further notice 💋”—you’ll find a sea of fire emojis and screaming caps. “A damn icon,” one follower wrote. “Adriana Lima is that you?” asked another.
Related: Leyna Bloom Is The First Trans Woman On Cover Of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
As a kid growing up in Australia, Minford knew exactly who she was, even if the world around her didn’t.
“I always felt so uncomfortable, particularly at every sports day or swimming carnival, or even those activities in class where the teacher would say something like ‘boys to the left, girls to the right’. I didn’t want to sit with the boys, but I wasn’t allowed to go with the girls, even though I knew that was the side I was meant to be on,” she previously told Beauticate.
She wasn’t bullied relentlessly, which she recognizes is a privilege not all trans kids share. But the absence of cruelty didn’t erase the presence of pain.
“It wasn’t even so much the response from the other kids, as it was how awful I felt within myself, and not being able to express my own identity,” she explained. “Compared to the experience other trans kids have, I know I am lucky to have avoided that, but even still, my experience wasn’t easy.”
Still, she can appreciate how the sum total of her experiences has made her who she is today. “Everything in my life so far, good and bad, has led me to where I am now and to being the person I am today, so I am grateful for all of it,” she reflected.
Transitioning gave her the space to breathe, and in many ways, thrive. “So many opportunities come my way now,” she said. “As soon as I transitioned, everything came together – I am pretty, and I look pretty in clothes, and I was so ready for it all. There was no calming me down once I got here…”
Minford’s milestone moment in Miami follows a wave of trans visibility in fashion that’s been years in the making. Models like Valentina Sampaio and Alex Consani have walked before her—trailblazers who brought their full selves to runways that long excluded them. Consani, who made history as the first out trans woman to win Model of the Year at the 2024 Fashion Awards, put it best: “Change is more than possible; it’s needed.”
And while the fashion world still has a long way to go, for one radiant Sunday in Miami, the runway belonged to Miss Miami Swim.
