Dolly Parton's now-iconic trashy look was modeled by the town tramp in her small town in East Tennessee. Parton thought she was stunning, and tried to imitate her in the way she dressed. It was a look that was not exactly applauded by Parton's own mother, at least at first.
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'The first time my Mama saw me all done up with blonde bleached hair all piled up, and my lips, cheeks and nails as red as I could get them, she screamed to the Lord, 'Why are you testing me this way?'" Parton recalls (via UPI.com). "And she told me the devil must have made me do it."
''Heck no,' I told Mama. 'Let's give credit where it's due: I did this all myself," Parton adds.
Now 79 years old, Parton still dresses the way she wants -- and still is rightfully proud of her look.
"It doesn't matter what anybody else says," Parton tells WWD. "If your mama doesn't like the way you dress, especially if you're a 30-year-old girl, a woman, if somebody doesn't like the way you look....Well, say, 'To hell with you. This is me. I'm the one who has to wear this. You're not wearing it.'"
Dolly Parton's Fashion Rules
Parton could by now afford to buy the priciest items for her wardrobe. But she still tries to look much the "trashy" same way she did 60 years ago, when she was just getting started.
"I want to look cheap. That's my look ... I don't mean it in a bad way. I just like that kind of almost artificial look," Parton says. She goes on to say that she likes to look "overdone" with "bleached hair."
"I do have some really beautiful clothes," she adds. "But you would never know how much they cost, because the expensive ones look the same on me as the cheap ones for the most part."
Parton always wants to look nice, even if she is at home. While she doesn't necessarily wear heels and shiny dresses to lounge around her house, the Grand Ole Opry member still makes sure she looks presentable, even if she is home alone.
"I usually put on my makeup, and I fix my hair every, every day, and then I'll wear very comfortable clothes," Parton says. "I'm going to put on pullover shirts and a pair of jeans, and if I think somebody's coming, then I can put on a pair of earrings or a little string silver necklace."
