The legendary singer, who died on Aug. 25 after a battle with cancer, famously said her bold country glam was modeled off “the town tramp”
Dolly Parton is leaving behind a legacy as bright as her bedazzled fashion.
The “Jolene” country singer died on Aug. 25 at age 80 after a “brief battle with cancer,” and fans are looking back on her iconic discography, which earned her 11 Grammy wins, impressionable acting career and her one-of-a-kind taste in fashion.
Parton famously said that her signature country glam was inspired by “the town tramp.”
“And she wore the makeup, red nails, red high heels, tight clothes. I just thought she was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen,” the Steel Magnolias star told CBS News in 2016. “And people say, ‘Oh, she ain’t nothing but trash,’ but in my mind, I thought, ‘That’s what I’m going to be when I grow up.’”
Through her decades-spanning life in the limelight, Parton was the definition of “more is more” when it came to clothing, hair and makeup. She might’ve once told Vogue in 2020, “I have never thought of myself as being fashionable,” but she always knew how to work the stage and the red carpet with her glitzed-up wardrobe. “I’ll just tell you what I know about how I look and why I look that way.”
PEOPLE is remembering the musical luminary by looking back at her most dazzling style moments from the 1970s to her most recent years.
01 of 18
Disco Dolly
From the start, Parton’s style always featured some sort of sparkle, seen here in an embellished high-neck, baby pink look on stage in 1976.
02 of 18
She’ll Always Love Pink
“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,” Parton once said. Despite the quips about her hair, she still rocked the style proudly. Here, she wore her voluminous ‘do with a hot pink ensemble at the 1977 Grammy Awards.
03 of 18
Garden of Glam
Parton’s love for nature began with her upbringing in Eastern Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains, where she would turn pokeberries and other natural resources into makeup. Here, she channeled Mother Earth in a floral-embellished light green gown at the 1978 American Music Awards.
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Sunny Style
Parton’s longtime costume designer, Steve Summers, described her mid-‘70s style as “a butterfly look.” And this bright yellow outfit from 1979 features subtle butterfly motifs throughout.
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Hollywood Glam
In 1980, Parton (with costars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda) had 9 to 5 costume designer Ann Roth make her pink embroidered dress for the movie premiere: “I needed to be fancy, and I didn’t know how to do that.”
06 of 18
Dolly & Rocky
She knew costar Sylvester Stallone would be “dressed to the nines” for the premiere of Rhinestone Cowboy in 1984. “So I tried to look my Dolly best,” she said. And she succeeded in this crystal bustier top, matching bow-tie choker and embellished tuxedo jacket ensemble.
07 of 18
Round of Applause
Parton’s heavenly voice could stop anyone in their tracks, but so did her performance looks, which included this impressive number that she wore in Chicago in 1986.
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Shining Bright
Her fashion — bust-baring, sparkly and unapologetically tight — has served as Parton’s Trojan horse. “I look like a woman, but I think like a man,” she’s said, pictured here in 1988. “And in this world of business, that has helped me a lot. Because by the time they think that I don’t know what’s goin’ on, I got the money, and I’m gone!”
09 of 18
Bring the Bling
“I am feminine, and I am strong. The Steel Magnolia-type thing,” Parton (at the premiere of the film in 1989) told PEOPLE last year.
10 of 18
Red-Hot
Parton had a fiery personality inside and out. When she launched her own makeup line, Dolly Beauty, in 2024 with four lipsticks, it was only natural she name one of the shades Jolene Red, which she described to PEOPLE as a “red-hot mama.” The color might’ve been named after one of her famous hits, but Parton herself was as red-hot as they come, especially in this sequin and beaded fringe dress that she wore at Dollywood in 1993.
11 of 18
Pretty in Pink
Ever since breaking through in 1967, Parton knows people may be looking — and judging — what she’s wearing. But she’s been the first to joke about her appearance. “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap!” is one of her favorite quips. We’d argue she looked far from cheap at the 2006 Oscars, in a ruched gown with a slit in the skirt.
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Heaven Sent
“When I wear white, I feel like I’m singing to God,” said Parton, pictured on stage in 2016 in a white-hot suit.
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The Greatest Show-Woman
“I’m old-school,” Parton has said. “If you’re going on stage, you should look like a star!” She wore a modern “Coat of Many Colors” to the ACMs in 2016.
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Duet Divas
Parton coordinated with her goddaughter Miley Cyrus at the Grammys in 2019 in crystal-encrusted ensembles.
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The Man with All the Sequins
“There’s a formula to dressing Dolly,” said Steve Summers, who designed Parton’s gowns and costumes for 30 years. “It’s going to be sparkly and vibrant. It’s going to be cinched at the waist. And it’s going to have that Dolly flair.”
As her creative director, Summers produced more than 300 looks a year for Parton, who generally defers to his fashion sense. “She is focused on her work, on music and producing more music,” he shared. “But she always knows what she wants.”
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Metallic Moment
As much as Parton loved her pastel colors, she also showed off a rocker edge at times. She attended the 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards in a silver metallic outfit complete with fringe.
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Here She Goes Again
Parton also wore an embellished metallic gown with fringe on the sleeves and skirt while attending the 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards.
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Tennessee Pride
As a proud native of the Smoky Mountains, it didn’t come as a surprise that Parton embraced her roots when she took the stage at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., for a match between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Georgia Bulldogs in very on-theme sparkly star-print pants and a coordinating leather jacket.
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