19 Vintage Photos Of A Young Dolly Parton
Following the sad news that Dolly Parton – the 11-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, actor, author and noted philanthropist – has died aged 80, as confirmed in a statement released by her family on Tuesday 25 August, Vogue revisits the vintage photographs that capture her singular style.
You’d recognise her silhouette before she had time to say Hello, I’m Dolly. The voluminous blonde coiffure, the sharp acrylic talons, the perfectly lined coral lips: the legend that was Dolly Parton had an unmistakable look that remained remarkably consistent from her early days on cable television in the 1960s. Parton, whose death at the age of 80 was announced by her family on Tuesday 25 August, made her name on the country circuit as a child, performing on local Tennessee radio and television. When she was 12, she met Johnny Cash at the Grand Ole Opry, where he encouraged her to pursue her dreams.
The word “icon” could be applied to many aspects of Dolly’s legacy – her 11-time Grammy Award-winning discography, her philanthropy, her one-liners – but one thing she always rejected was her status as a fashion icon. “I always laugh when I get called a fashion icon,” she once told Vogue. “I’m more of an eyesore! Only because I overdo it.” Regardless of how Parton felt about it, the singular style she cultivated will forever be the stuff of country-glam legend. And, in a cultural landscape littered with artists attempting to package their careers into neatly defined “eras”, there was something especially bolstering about her distinctive, unwavering look.
In memory of the country music legend, revisit some pivotal moments from her early career.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images1/19Dolly Rebecca Parton at roughly 10 years old.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images2/19Dolly was always open about her use of wigs, realising early on that they were a great way to “never have a bad hair day”.
Chris Walter3/19Dolly loved flowers, describing them as “little rays of sunshine”. She famously adored roses – so much so a species was named after her. (It’s true: look up the Dolly Parton Tea Rose.)
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images4/19Dolly and Porter Wagoner (pictured) had an interesting relationship. They were collaborators – he invited Dolly onto his show as a musical guest in 1967, where she eventually became a regular. He ended up having a large financial stake in Parton’s career as it took off, causing friction in their partnership. Dolly wrote “I Will Always Love You” about Wagoner.
Richard E. Aaron5/19Dolly was seven when she first began playing on a homemade guitar. The following year, an uncle bought her a real one.
Chris Walter6/19Though Dolly was releasing music from the age of 19, her label initially pitched her as a cheesy pop singer, and her songs didn’t see much success. It wasn’t until she convinced them to let her release country music two years later that she began to chart.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images7/19Posing for a portrait circa 1970.
Art Zelin/Getty Images8/19Hanging out with her friends and 9 to 5 co-stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin at the film’s premiere in 1980. Parton enlisted the film’s costume designer, Ann Roth, to make her a dress for the red carpet. “I remember feeling really pretty,” she told Vogue. “That was probably the first time that I ever felt fashionable.”
David Redfern9/19“I’m short and I’m kind of curvy, so I can’t just wear things that a big, tall person would wear,” Dolly told Vogue in 2023. “I try to accent my positive things – and try to stay away from the negative ones.”
Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images10/19At home in Sevierville, Tennessee, a young Dolly would rifle through Sears catalogues developing “a country girl’s idea of what glamour was”.
PA Images/Getty Images11/19Dolly in London! Snapping a pic at Heathrow Airport before performing at the International Festival of Country Music at Wembley in 1976.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images12/19“I feel pretty in a heel,” Dolly once told Vogue. “I loved high heels before I even knew I was going to be short. I wear heels every day. I have them custom made.”
Leila Grossman/Getty Images13/19Posing in an advert for Hercules Tyres.
Art Zelin/Getty Images14/19Dolly with her co-star Sylvester Stallone at the premiere of their musical comedy Rhinestone, in 1984.
Paul Natkin/Getty Images15/19“People always ask me how long it takes to do my hair. I don’t know, I’m never there.”
Paul Natkin/Getty Images16/19On the Phil Donahue show promoting her latest album, New Harvest… First Gathering in 1977.
Ron Galella/Getty Images17/19Dolly was a kid when she discovered her beauty muse. “There was this one woman, I thought she was beautiful and, you know, she had the peroxide hair and she had it all piled up on her head and had red fingernails and red lipstick and, you know, wore her powder. And I just thought she was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen. And Mama said, ‘Oh, quit looking at her. She ain’t nothing but trash’. And I thought, ‘Ooh, that’s what I want to be when I grow up – trash.’”
ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images18/19On the set of her variety show, Dolly, in 1987. The show’s premiere in 1987 attracted 39 million viewers – the largest audience for any television series premiere at the time.
Roger Ressmeyer/Getty Images19/19“After you reach a certain age, they think you’re over. Well, I will never be over. I’ll be making records if I have to sell them out of the trunk of my car. I’ve done that in my past, and I’d do it again.”
