Dolly Parton Once Joked She and Tammy Wynette Shopped at ‘Fifth and Park’ for Clothes: ‘That’s the Fifth Trailer in the Park’
Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette are country music royalty, and Parton once said they had the same taste in clothes. She described their fashion preference as a “country girl’s idea of glamour” and joked they both liked to shop at a place called “Fifth and Park,” noting, “That’s the fifth trailer in the park.”
Tammy Wynette looked like a ‘Siamese cat in a wig hat,’ author said
In Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen by Jimmy McDonough, excerpted by NPR, the author wrote that Wynette was “a striking woman, with an elegant neck, beautiful lips, and a stunning profile …”
“Unimaginative types who don’t savor esoteric looks might be dim-witted enough to consider her a tad homely,” he went on. “Hell, head-on, Wynette looks like a Siamese cat in a wig hat.”
Wynette was a mom of four and a former beautician, and friends said she never lost her sense of humility despite her superstardom and tabloid-selling personal life. In the ’70s, she was linked to other stars, from George Jones to Burt Reynolds, and she married five times in all.
Despite that fame, Wynette shared that her children teased her about her figure. She told author Alanna Nash, “My neck’s too long, my nose has a hump in it, my boobs are too saggy, and the kids call me ‘weenie butt’ ’cause I have no rear end” (NPR).
Tammy Wynette had a similar taste in clothes to Dolly Parton
Like Parton, Wynette was a fan of clothes others might call “loud,” with lots of sequins and fringe. In his book, McDonough described Wynette as “skinny as a matchstick, wearing a fancy, futuristic housecoat dress,” adding, “Tammy looks like her ratted-out beehive, and big lapels might consume her at any second.”
The look wasn’t everyone’s taste, but Parton said she and Wynette shared “a country girl’s idea of glamour.”
“Tammy didn’t have any more fashion sense than I did, really,” the “Coat of Many Colors” singer said (Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen per NPR). “I always say me and Tammy, we got our clothes from Fifth and Park — that was, the fifth trailer in the park.”
Dolly Parton said she fashioned herself after the ‘town trollop’
On The Tonight Show, Parton told Jimmy Fallon she modeled herself after “the town trollop” or “the painted lady.”
“I thought she was the most beautiful thing. She had all this makeup, hair, tight clothes, and everything I wanted,” she told Fallon, adding, “It impressed me.”
As reported by Harper’s Bazaar, Parton has stood by the statement, saying, “I make jokes about it, but it’s the truth that I kind of patterned my look after the town tramp.”
“I didn’t know what she was, just this woman who was blonde and piled her hair up, wore high heels and tight skirts, and, boy, she was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen. Momma used to say, ‘Aw, she’s just trash,’ and I thought, That’s what I want to be when I grow up. Trash,” she explained.
