You’ll recognize her silhouette first: the voluminous blonde coiffure, the sharp acrylic talons, the perfectly lined coral lips. The legend that is Dolly Parton has a look that she has maintained since her early days on cable television in the 1960s.
Parton, who turned 80 today, made her name on the country circuit as a kid, performing on local Tennessee radio and television stations. When she was 12 she met Johnny Cash at the Grande Ole Opry, and he convinced her to pursue her dreams.
Parton is, without question, an iconic recording artist, songwriter, philantrophist, raconteur. But one thing she rejects is her status as a fashion icon. “I always laugh when I get called a fashion icon,” she previously told Vogue. “I’m more of an eyesore! Only because I overdo it.”
Nevertheless, her outfit archive is undeniably the stuff of country-glam legend. And, in a cultural landscape now littered with artists attempting to package their careers into neatly defined “eras,” there’s something especially pleasing about her consistency.
As the country music legend turns 80, revisit some pivotal moments in her early career.
