10 of Dolly Parton’s boldest beauty looks to inspire you

‘It takes a lot of money to look this cheap!’

29December 2020

Here at Dazed Beauty HQ, we have nothing but love for our queen Dolly Parton. A country music legend. Unapologetic wig-enthusiast. The woman who wrote “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” in one night. A long time prolific philanthropist whose literacy program has sent out over 100 million books to kids.

She also did the small thing this year of helping to fund the Moderna coronavirus vaccine with a $1m donation, thus doing more than many governments to help the pandemic effort. If that’s not enough she secretly helped to produce Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We shouldn’t be too surprised though. As they do say, the bigger the hair, the closer to God. And Dolly must be right up there in God’s personal space.

Since the beginning of her career, Parton has used beauty in a very purposeful way to construct an identity for herself. The bleached blonde hair teased up to the heavens, the make-up, the musical acrylic nails, and the rhinestones have all become signatures of Parton’s larger-than-life image. As she says, “it takes a lot of money to look this cheap!”

It’s a look that is famously modelled after a woman Parton describes as “the town tramp” who used to walk around when Parton was growing up with red lips, bleached hair, and tight clothes. “I thought she was so beautiful and everyone used to say, ‘oh, she ain’t nothing but trash,’” Parton says. “I used to say ‘well that’s what I’m going to be when I grow up. Trash.’”

Our image-obsessed society can often judge a woman harshly for dressing in a way deemed “trashy” but Parton has never, to put it politely, given a single fuck. Her artificial look is a defining part of her identity alongside her talent, intelligence, and disarmingly unpretentious kindness and charm. As she herself says, “I’m not offended by all of the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb and I also know that I’m not blonde.”

Following the news that her long-awaited fragrance is set for spring 2021 launch (we’ll see you at the checkout) we look back over some of our favourite, most Dolly, Dolly Parton beauty looks.

01 / 10

BEEHIVE (1965)

Parton was just a 21-year-old up-and-coming singer in Nashville when she was pictured here in 1965. As we can see from the sky-high beehive, teased and backcombed to the heavens, her commitment to beauty has been there since the beginning. To create this look for yourself, you will need a backcombing brush and a lot of hairspray.

02 / 10

JOLENE (1974)

For the cover of Parton’s 13th (!) album Jolene, released in 1974, she paired a stripey blue and white jumpsuit with a hairstyle that we could almost call mullet-esque in spirit. While the hair around her face is styled into a rounded-bouffant shape, the lower half is loose and long. To create this look for yourself, you will need a backcombing brush and a lot of hairspray. Sound familiar?

03 / 10

BANDANA DO (1977)

Between 1976 and 1977, Parton starred in a self-titled variety show called Dolly on which she would perform and host other musicians. Here she appears alongside Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstad, the three of them looking just as seventies as can be, as they perform Parton’s “Apple Jack.” Parton’s curls here are still big and lustrous but don’t have the height of many of her other styles and are tied back with a bandana that matches her peach-coloured outfit. To create this look for yourself, you will need a bandana and a lot of hairspray.

04 / 10

PRETTY IN PINK (1977)

For the 1977 Grammys, Parton was a vision in pink in a bedazzled, rhinestone-studded jumpsuit and matching pink eyeshadow and hair accessories. The hair itself was, of course, larger than life with big, golden curls and mini braids scattered here and there. To create this look for yourself, you will need a curling iron and a lot of hairspray.

05 / 10

FLOWER POWER (1978)

In 1978, Parton won the American Music Award for best country album and collected the award in a floaty green jumpsuit with floral embellishments and matching flowers dotted around her voluminous updo. For make-up, Parton wore a pale green eye look with a glossy red lip and healthy, glowing cheeks. To create this look for yourself, you will need some plastic flowers and a lot of hairspray.

06 / 10

WHARHOLIAN (1985)

We’ve now entered the 1980s and the curls have become much tighter as we can see in this poodle-esque hairdo Parton is wearing when she was photographed by Andy Wharhol. Speaking a year prior for Wharhol’s magazine Interview, the artist asked Parton how many tubes of lipstick she has. “Just one, but it’s as big as a can of hairspray,” she replied. To create this look for yourself, you will need a curling iron with a smaller barrel and a lot of hairspray.

07 / 10

RAISE THE ROOF (1987)

Pictured here during her Rainbow album era, Parton’s hair has reached peak height as her ringlet curls are teased up high into a halo around her head. If you were in any doubt what decade this look was from, the added blue eyeshadow and red lips place it firmly in the 80s when more was definitely more. To create this look for yourself, you will need the amount of hairspray that was used during the filming of the 2007 movie Hairspray.

08 / 10

STEEL MAGNOLIAS (1989)

“I have a strict philosophy that I have stuck to for 15 years,” says Parton’s character in Steel Magnolias, beautician Truvy Jones. “There is no such thing as natural beauty. You remember that, or we're all out of a job.” Set in 1980s Lousianna, the hair in Steel Magnolias is, as you can imagine, a character in itself and much of the action takes place in Truvy’s beauty salon. Truvy’s hair is as large as her personality and she is proud of it. To create this look for yourself, you will need a backcombing brush and a lot of hairspray.

09 / 10

GLASTONBURY (2014)

In 2014, Parton made her Glasto debut on the pyramid stage drawing crowds larger than headliners Arcade Fire and Metallica. Stunning in a Steve Summers-designed white bedazzled pantsuit with mesh legs, Parton rocked a pale blue eye look with bright red nails. Her country roots were clear to see in the mullet-esque hairstyle that her wigs have tended towards in recent years, and in the most Dolly Parton thing she could have done, the platinum blonde wig was flecked with diamantes. To create this look for yourself, you will need diamantes and a lot of hairspray.

10 / 10

IS THAT YOU, DOLLY? (2019)

This look from the promo for Parton’s 2019 documentary Here I Am makes the list due to its extreme departure from her usual style. In being one of the most commonplace of all her looks over the last 55 years, it becomes the most extra-ordinary. Parton is almost unrecognisable with a nice but casual blow out and fringe. Stevie Nicks is that you? Who can tell. To create this look for yourself, you will need almost no hairspray. Phew.

00 / 10