Dolly Parton Said Her Natural Appearance Would Be a ‘Letdown’ to the Public
Dolly Parton almost never steps out in public in casual clothes and natural makeup. The singer has favored towering wigs, bright eye makeup, and sequined clothing for most of her career. She believes this style suits her best, and hasn’t changed it much over the years. When asked why she doesn’t go out looking more natural, Parton said she thought her appearance would disappoint people.
Dolly Parton said she wouldn’t want to show the public her natural appearance
Practically every time Parton is in public, she wears eye-catching clothing, sparkling makeup, and a wig. She explained she was hesitant to appear otherwise because people have come to expect the look from her.
“See, that’s my gimmick,” she said in the book Dolly by Alanna Nash. “Me without my wig would be like Liberace in overalls. The public has come to expect me to look a certain way, whether it’s in style or not.”
She felt she had built a character, and people expected her to look a certain way. If she didn’t, she believed people would be disappointed.
“They don’t want to see me in faded jeans, braless, with no makeup and my hair combed straight back,” she said. “It’d be a letdown to ’em, although I often look that way at home. That’s not the character they’ve come to know.”
Dolly Parton does not like a natural look
Ever since Parton was a child, she knew the type of look she wanted to achieve. She found a woman in her hometown so beautiful and glamorous that she wanted to emulate her.
“I’m impressed with anybody that’s got a sense of glamour and style, but I say, first of all, it’s about being comfortable in your own skin,” she told the Wall Street Journal. “My own overexaggerated look came from a serious place I’ve often spoken about: the town tramp in our little country hometown.”
She loved her clothing, makeup, and hair. When people told her that this woman was the “town tramp,” she didn’t care. She still wanted to look like her.
“When everybody would say, ‘Oh, she’s just trash,’ I’d say, ‘Well, trash is what I’m going to grow up to be,’” she noted. “And I guess my look is glamorous trash!”
She once said she even sleeps with her makeup on
Though Parton said she often walked around her house without a wig or makeup, she later admitted that she even sleeps with makeup on.
“I clean my face in the mornings,” she told The New York Times. “You never know if you’re going to wreck the bus. You never know if you’re going to be somewhere in a hotel, and there’s going to be a fire. So I leave my makeup on at night and clean my face in the morning.”
For this reason, it’s unlikely that anyone who doesn’t see Parton in her home, first thing in the morning will ever get a look at her without her hair and makeup done.
