Dolly Parton Wanted to ‘Cover Up Her Bust’ for the Sake of Her Dad
In the early stages of Dolly Parton’s career, she dressed with consideration for how her dad might view her outfits. While she liked tight, sparkling costumes, she wanted to ensure that her outfits had high necklines. She tried to avoid wearing things that she thought would agitate her father.
Dolly Parton preferred her outfits to have high necklines because of her dad
When Parton accepted a position on The Porter Wagoner Show, she began working with designer Lucy Adams and seamstress Judy Hunt. They grew familiar with her tastes and personal style.
“If she could reach down and pick it up, it was too loose,” Adams said in the book Dolly by Alanna Nash. “If she’d left it up to me, I wouldn’t have done that. Sometimes I’d make things and think they fit real nice, but she’d say they were too big, for me to take them up more. It looked like it would be uncomfortable, but I’d just push her in and zip her up. That’s the way she wanted it.”
Parton wanted to accentuate her figure as much as possible, but she did not want to draw attention to her chest. She requested high-necked outfits to conceal it.
“Actually, she probably accentuates everything — her hips, too — but if anything, she would cover up her bust,” Hunt said. “She was really into high-necked things, to cover up good.”
According to Adams, Parton made this decision with her father in mind.
“She’d say, ‘I couldn’t wear that,’” Adams recalled. “‘My daddy would whip me for that!’”
Parton did not continue to follow this style rule for the rest of her career. As she grew more successful, her necklines got lower.
Dolly Parton’s dad was not happy with some of the beauty and fashion choices she made
Parton likely wanted to avoid her father’s ire because she had been on the receiving end of it as a child. While she was growing up, she developed a fascination with makeup. Unfortunately, her father did not approve of her wearing it.
“He did not believe girls should wear makeup – at least not his girls,” she wrote in the book Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. “He thought it would make us look trashy and get us into trouble.”
This didn’t stop Parton from doing what she could to wear it, though. She powdered her face with flour and wore Mercurochrome to redden her lips.
“The one thing [Mercurochrome and Merthiolate] had in common was their ability to stain the lips so that the color would last for several days,” she wrote. “This meant that Daddy was bound to notice. ‘Where did you get lipstick?’ he would demand through gritted teeth. ‘It’s not lipstick, Daddy. It’s my natural coloring,’ was always the plea delivered in spurts between frustrated wipes with a coarse washcloth.”
She was typically easygoing with the designs she wore
Parton’s request to have high-necked dresses was one of the few demands she made of Adams and Hunt. For the most part, she was happy to wear what they created for her.
“She’s not picky about designs,” Hunt said. “She’ll just say, ‘Make me up something in blue, green, yellow — all different colors.”
Over the years, though, Parton became more involved with designing her outfits.
