 With his help, Lauper signed with Portrait Records, a subsidiary of Epic Records, in the spring of 1983 and soon began recording her debut album.The front cover of "She's So Unusual" was photographed on Henderson Walk in Coney Island, New York in the summer of 1983 by Annie Leibovitz.Lauper is depicted wearing a vintage red prom-style dress that she purchased at the vintage clothing shop where she used to work, Screaming Mimi's.