- Dolly Parton is an American musical icon
- She is best known for country hits like "Jolene"
- THIS is how her personal style affected her at first
Dolly Parton has always been true to herself, even if it got her into some trouble. In a recent interview with 'The Guardian', the "Jolene" songstress revealed that she based her iconic, over-the-top appearance off the "town tramp," a local woman who wore high heels and tight skirts. "She was flamboyant. She had bright red lipstick, long red fingernails," Parton told the outlet. Dolly's look became iconic, no doubt about it.
"She had high-heeled shoes, little floating plastic goldfish in the heels of them, short skirts, low-cut tops, and I just thought she was beautiful," Dolly said. All trendsetters face some opposition. "When people would say, ‘She ain’t nothing but trash,’ I would always say, ‘Well, that’s what I’m gonna be when I grow up," she confessed. Her grandfather who was a preacher, certainly was no fan...
Dolly remembers some horrific things
Parton shares that both her father and grandfather detested her fashion choices. She admits her grandfather, even physically disciplined her based on the clothing she would wear. "I was willing to pay for it," Parton, 77, told 'The Guardian.'
"I’m very sensitive," she continued. "I didn’t like being disciplined, it hurt my feelings so bad to be scolded or whipped or whatever. But sometimes there’s just that part of you that’s willing, if you want something bad enough, to go for it." Parton has always been vocal about her signature style which includes colorful makeup, plunging tops and big hair. Even now, her look is still being emulated and copied by many starlets.
"My mom and my aunts, I grew up with women knowing how to be good mothers, but that was just not what I felt God had in mind for me," she said. "Because somebody’s got to entertain those people, to write songs about them." Dolly's identity was never negotiable as far as she was concerned.
She would always go her own way
"I’ve always been true to myself," she shared with 'The Guardian'. "That was what my mama always used to say: to thine own self be true. I put a lot of stock in that. Everything I do, whether it’s my personality, how I conduct myself and business, or whatever, if I do it my way, according to what I understand and believe, there’s a strength in that. You can think, ‘I can stand by this, I can live by this.’" And that mantra has served Dolly very well, indeed.
Also interesting:
So as Parton’s career got bigger, so did her hair and the number of rhinestones on her dresses. Although she stands behind her fashion choices, and the reason she started dressing like that in the first place, the Grammy winner who is now 77, admits that it has sometimes worked against her, especially with record executives.
"I've been at this so long, I've worn some of the most bizarre things -- my hairdos have always been so out there," she says. "At the time you think you look good, then you look back on it, like, what was I thinking? [...] Sometimes that’s worked for me, sometimes it can work against you. It took me probably years longer to be taken serious, but I wasn’t willing to change it, and I figured if I had the talent, it’d show up sooner or later."
Parton’s new book, 'Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones,' which documents her life and career is available to fans on Oct. 17.
