Why I dress like Dolly Parton

Why I dress like Dolly Parton

The world has been shattered by the passing of Dolly Parton at the age of 80, after not only an extraordinary musical career, but also was known for her philanthropy and generosity.

At first glance you wouldn’t pick me as dressing like her. But stay with me, beneath the rhinestones there are some common themes.

When Dolly was growing up in rural Tennessee, there was a set path for her: marry young, have a dozen kids, and live in a shack in abject poverty for the rest of her days.

That wasn’t the path she chose.

She chose her own path. And part of that was seeing a woman who Dolly thought was pretty – but her mother thought was “trash”. This was the first woman Dolly saw that defied the pattern that was set out for her.

That was Dolly claiming her power.

She was living her truth.

Dolly took the woman viewed as the town tramp as her inspiration and absolutely ran with it: big blonde wigs, frilly skirts in bright colours with lots of cleavage showing, Dolly was dopamine dressing long before it was cool and ignored any critical comments – and there were many.

She was fully self-expressed.

I dress differently to Dolly, which should come as no surprise. Frankly, I don’t have the cleavage to show off, and I don’t think I could pull off a blonde wig.

While Dolly was dopamine dressing, I do melatonin dressing: lots of darkness, very relaxing.

My inspiration is the luggage carousel – or more accurately, avoiding the luggage carousel. As far as I’m concerned, there are only two types of luggage: carry on and lost. What I’m looking for in my travel wardrobe is maximum versatility – and lots of dark colours that hide the dirt. Black goes with everything, as does grey, so I like that. I absolutely hate queueing for luggage at the carousel, so instead I breeze out of the airport straight onto a taxi or train, bound for the city centre.

That’s me, claiming my power.

I’ve gotten a lot of criticism over the years over how much black I wear, and at times my wardrobe has looked like the love child of Johnny Cash and Neo from The Matrix. “Why are you dressed like a Greek widow?” I’m often asked.

But I’m living my truth.

When I travel, I like versatility. Dark neutrals are great, they go with everything and hide the dirt. Most of my clothes are black, white, navy and grey, with a dash of red to add some colour.

This, for me, is the wardrobe of a traveller – and the seemingly limited choices for me spells freedom.

For me, this is full self-expression.

I’m not telling you what to wear or how to dress, you can sort that out for yourself, whether it’s a mostly neutral wardrobe or big blonde wigs.

Just – do yourself. Like Dolly did.

Vale Dolly Parton, 1946 – 2026. Rest in power.