BOOKS
Dolly Parton discusses her stellar style with Erica Wagner
‘Be yourself,’ Dolly Parton tells me. ‘You don’t have to be like anybody else.’
Parton certainly exemplifies this philosophy: seven decades into her career, she is a superstar like no other, whose voice and talent are admired all over the world. She’s a bona fide movie star, a producer, an author and a philanthropist. Her literacy charity Imagination Library has, to date, given away more than 215 million books to children around the world, and in 2020, she helped fund the Moderna vaccine for Covid. Thanks to Dollywood, the theme park in her native Pigeon Forge, she’s the largest employer in her Tennessee county.
She is the definition of a self-made artist, and from the very beginning her look was an integral part of her unique appeal: she broke onto the country-music scene in red and gold, with her blonde hair piled high. Now, she has chronicled the development of her unique style in a beautiful book, Behind the Seams. It takes the reader deep into her sartorial archive, from the homemade cosmetics she relied on in her earliest years (flour, pokeberries and the bright-orange antiseptic mercurochrome) to the incredible ensembles she wears today. Even the chapter titles demonstrate her flair, taking their cue from song titles: ‘Seasons of my Youth’, ‘A Diamond in a Rhinestone World’.
‘I never thought of myself as fashionable,’ says Parton in her distinctive twang. ‘I didn’t care what anybody else thought. I felt, “Well, I have to look good for me.” That’s true of any look. It has to fit your personality, be something you can wear and not be ashamed of – even if somebody else thinks it’s gaudy.’
Of her many dazzling outfits, Parton’s favourite is a white beaded dress designed by Tony Chase that she debuted at the Country Music Association Awards show in 1989, when she performed ‘He’s Alive’ from her album White Limozeen. But it’s not simply the gown: it’s also the atmosphere it recalls. ‘That song hit me so personal, that night – Igot carried up in the spirit, and I felt that dress was part of it,’ she says. ‘It has this Victorian neck and those beautiful beads. I just felt so special, and the song touched so many people.’
Have there been any fashion faux-pas in her history? ‘Well, I’ve made a lot!’ she says with a hearty chuckle. ‘I’ve worn things that didn’t fit or didn’t match – we all go through that; you just learn from it and go on. I try to wear things that complement my good parts – my waist is small, my boobs are big, my hips are a nice size – but if you’ve got fiddly legs, you kind of work ar
