Here’s What Happens to Dolly Parton’s Clothes After She Wears Them
Dolly Parton isn’t an outfit-repeater. She wears a new outfit to every event, and has every look customized to better fit her frame and bedazzled taste. But what happens to the “Coat of Many Colors” singer’s clothes after they’ve been worn? They’re meticulously organized.
Where do Dolly Parton’s clothes go after they’ve been worn?
In a recent interview with Vogue, Parton’s stylist of over 30 years Steve Summers explained what happens to the country star’s clothes after she wears them. He says her team archives all of her looks in a warehouse—almost everything she’s worn since 1964 has been photographed and documented, marking where she wore the outfit and who the designer is.
“It’s all computerized by color, genre, or style,” said Summers. “We have the majority of Dolly’s garments that she’s worn since 1964.”
That’s a lot of looks. Especially considering, on days like press days or when the “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” singer is making personal appearances, she often wears 10 outfits a day. Not to mention, everything is either custom-made or custom-altered. Parton’s fashion team makes about 300 custom outfits a year.
“There is an outfit in production every single day,” said Summers. “If she’s doing personal appearances, 10 outfits in a day is not unusual.”
And while it might be tempting to go back into the archive to revive some of Parton’s old looks. Summers and the singer like to keep Parton in fresh ensembles.
“We’re not trying to [re-invent] the wheel—we’re just trying to keep it rolling,” he said.
Dolly Parton at the ACM Awards
Parton co-hosted the 2023 Academy of Country Music Awards on Thursday in Frisco, Texas along with Garth Brooks. Parton’s performed, presented, and accepted awards many times throughout the years. And she’s done it all in style.
“I really loved the mirrorball outfit that she wore last year to open the ACM Awards,” said Summers.
This year, Parton performed the lead single from her new rock album, Rockstar. Summers said one of the goals when putting together the singer’s looks for the night was to “wear a lot of diversity.” It’s safe to say that was accomplished as Parton’s looks went from “very bright, to very demure to very country—and a little bit of everything in between.”
Parton’s has a new book coming out about her signature fashion
On March 22, Parton announced her forthcoming book, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones. It’s the second book in a trilogy following the singer’s 2020 book Songteller: My Life in Lyrics. The first book took a look at Parton’s songs and this second one will focus on her fashion.
“I am happy, proud, and excited to present my brand new book ‘Behind The Seams’ to all of you!” she captioned a photo of the book’s cover on Instagram. “It is my hope that you will enjoy a look at my life in costume and hair, and get to know some of the wonderful people that have helped shape my life and look.”
Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones will go on sale on Oct. 17.
