See Dolly Parton's most iconic outfits ever

Publish date: 2023-11-30

She’s always worn a coat of many colors.

Dolly Parton is 77 and looking better than ever. Though the “Jolene” singer has famously said she based her personal style on that of the “town tramp,” she prefers to flaunt her famous curves in form-fitting yet modest clothing. Over the years, she’s made gloves and long sleeves her signature — the better to cover up the many tiny tattoos covering scars on her hands and arms.

While she once joked that “it costs a lot of money to look this cheap,” we think the country-music legend’s style is downright priceless.

Over the course of her decades-long career, the Tennessee-born blonde has worn plenty of iconic outfits that reflect her her “more is more” fashion mantra, from seriously bedazzled dresses to denim paired with diamonds — all teamed with big hair, of course.

Most recently, she sent tongues wagging when she performed during halftime at the 2023 Thanksgiving football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Commanders in a sexy cheerleader-inspired look.

See her best looks from then, now, and all the years in between.

• 1976

  The “Jolene” singer’s been drawn to sparkles and sky-high hair since the 1970s. She once told Jimmy Fallon that growing up, she drew her style inspiration from “the town trollop,” saying, “I thought she was the most beautiful thing, because she had all this makeup, hair, tight clothes and everything I wanted.”

• 1977

  For her “Here You Come Again” album shoot, Parton channeled fellow platinum-haired bombshell Marilyn Monroe in a knotted and dotted red shirt and high-waisted denim.

• 1978

  Many of Parton’s early album-cover looks were created by Lucy Adams, a seamstress who worked at a shop on Nashville’s Music Row at the time. For “Heartbreaker,” she dressed the country crooner in this lovely pink ruffled gown with lace details.

• 1980

  For the premiere of “9 to 5,” Parton — seen here with co-stars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda — called on the film’s costume designer, Ann Roth, for assistance. “I thought that I needed to be fancy, and I didn’t know how to do that,” she told Vogue, adding of her pink lace gown and matching makeup, “I remember feeling really pretty. That was probably the first time that I ever felt fashionable.”

• 1984

  For the “Rhinestone” premiere, Parton opted for an off-the-shoulder white gown with sparkling black beadwork, wanting to hold her own against co-star Sylvester Stallone. “I knew he’d be dressed to the nines … so I tried to look my Dolly best,” she told Vogue.

• 1987

  Parton’s outfits for her namesake variety show were the picture of ‘80s power dressing. “Tony [Chase, the show’s costume designer] was always trying to put me in all these clothes that had these big ol’ shoulders,” she recalled during her Vogue interview. “I said, ‘Tony, you gotta tone it down a little. There ain’t nothing big about me but my mouth and my boobs!’”

• 1989

  Parton stole the show at the “Steel Magnolias” premiere, wearing an all-over beaded number that likely weighed more than the star herself. “Dolly’s about 5-foot-2, she is a [size] 0 at best,” Parton’s longtime creative director, Steve Summers, told WKRN. “She’s little, tiny you know. Her personality is just so big that people think she is this big person and she is not.”

• 1993

  Talk about traveling in style. In 1993, the blond beauty was spotted leaving LAX in a sexy black jumpsuit, complete with a waist-whittling leopard corset and matching bolero jacket. Me-ow.

• 2014

  Parton wowed the Glastonbury crowd in her heavily embellished vest and trousers with semi-sheer panels. “I love to work in pants … I’m up and down, so it’s hard for me to work in a glamorous dress,” she told Vogue. “So Steve designed this outfit that had all the glamour of a dress.”

  The outfit also included long sleeves — and over the years, Parton’s predilection for covering her arms has led some to speculate that she might be secretly covered in tattoos. “I do have some tattoos, that’s true,” she told People. “But they’re tasteful … My tattoos are pretty, they’re artful and they usually started out to cover some scar, not to make a big statement. Ribbons and bows and butterflies are the things that I have.”

• 2015

  Who needs a “Coat of Many Colors” when a rainbow dress will do? Parton dazzled in this multi-hued fringe frock.

  “Had I not been a girl, I definitely would have been a drag queen. I like all that flamboyance. I love all that sparkle, and shine, and color,” she told Elle.

• 2019

  Parton’s Grammys tribute performance — during which she sang with her goddaughter, Miley Cyrus — called for an extra-special costume. “The dress took forever to make and it took many different people,” Summers told Sounds Like Nashville of her flowing, embellished white gown, which featured a sheer cape worthy of a style superhero.

• 2021

  While her October 1978 Playboy cover is iconic on its own, Parton gave husband Carl a memorable birthday present in 2021 when she re-created the look at 75 years old. She wore the same pink sequined bowtie and cuffs with a busty corset top, adding a sheer fishnet bodystocking — sparkling, of course.

• 2022

  She rang in 2023 with goddaughter Miley Cyrus as part of her “Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party” special. Parton rehearsed for the show in a pair of cutout leather pants, later sporting matching leopard-printed looks with Cyrus during the main event.

• 2023

  Leave it to Parton to put a sparkling spin on the Dallas Cowboys cheerleader uniform at age 77. The “Jolene” singer layered a bedazzled nude bodysuit beneath the iconic bra-and-shorts combo — all reworked with rhinestones — to perform during halftime at the 2023 Thanksgiving game between the Texan football team and the Washington Commanders.

ncG1vNJzZmiokZyytLXXZ5qopV%2BhtrTAjpucrKxdmbytuNhmp5qqpKS7brvUrZ2irKNiwamxzWalqK9f