The talented artist Debbie McGuan sent her first sketches to Paisley Park on a whim in 1993, hoping to capture Prince’s attention with her vivid and detailed designs. It worked: within weeks she was being asked to FedEx sketches for new outfit ideas and designs to Chanhassen and was receiving feedback from Prince himself.

“I just felt in my heart that somehow I was going to work for Prince,” she says.

For the first few months she was working remotely from Chicago, sending designs off to Paisley Park with the hope that they would end up turning into outfits worn by Prince. It wasn’t until she watched the video for “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” which starred one of her designs, that it hit home just how incredible it was that she was influencing the look of one of her favorite musicians.

“I just freaked out. Before, I was drawing so much, but I’d never seen him in anything. It was so cool, like I had a dream; it was just so cool to see that it worked.”

Debbie and Prince worked together for nearly two decades, from that outfit in “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” video up to the cover art for his album 20Ten and his signature light-up shoes. The 20Ten design pictured here also includes the graphic art contribution of Anthony Malzone, a similarly talented artist who worked with Prince for a period of years.

“Every day I think of him,” Debbie says. “Nothing can compare to working for him and the art that he got out of me, just drawing him and trying to come up with clothes. He inspires me to this day in my thinking and art.”

I would love to hear more from her.

Me too. I think her work for him in 1994-5 was exceptional.