Adorned in rhinestones and elevating her 5-foot stature with sky-high heels and voluminous blonde wigs, Dolly Parton often joked, “it costs a lot of money to look this cheap!”
Parton’s looks on stage and off reflected both her Tennessee roots and her embodiment of over-the-top feminine glamour, an aesthetic articulated in her album title and self-anointed nickname “Backwoods Barbie.” She was rarely seen without long acrylic nails, a full face of makeup, and heapings of glitter.
The prolific musician, actor and philanthropist, who died on Tuesday at 80 years old, always had a tongue-in-cheek response to criticisms about her larger-than-life sense of style. She quipped about her hair being a fire hazard, would play her hit ‘9 to 5’ with nothing but her fire red acrylic nails as the instrument, and she unabashedly loved flashy clothes: shoulder pads, plunging necklines, a cinched waist, lace were all sartorial non-negotiables for the singer. But she paired it with a keen sense of self-awareness that only made her devout fanbase love her more.
Parton's massive, voluminous blonde wigs were classic Dolly — and, she once joked, a "fire hazard." Richard McCaffrey/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
