Dolly Parton + Jolene Costume

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, JOLLEEENNNEEEE! The absolute cutest rivals you have ever seen!

One of Dolly Parton’s most iconic songs is “Jolene”, which is about a woman that is so beautiful that Dolly has to beg her not to take her man! Jolene, herself, has always been a mysterious figure, but with this costume, we finally put a face to the name we have heard so much about! Dolly may see Jolene as her rival, but I think both of these girlies have beauty beyond compare!

This is one of those costumes that has been on my list to do for YEARS! I love creating costumes of iconic celebrities, and I mean how much more iconic can you get with Dolly?! And after her recent passing, I knew it was time to create this and pay homage to her!

Originally, when I planned to do this costume I thought it would be a costume my husband and I would wear together! I first considered doing a Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson couples costume, which would have been fun! Then I was thinking about how Jolene had red hair (and I have red hair) so I thought it would be fun if I dressed up as Jolene! But then that would make my husband have to be Dolly! haha With that thought, I thought it would be A LOT cuter if the girls wore the costumes instead of us! And voila! That’s how this idea came into fruition!

Dolly is such an inspiration to me (and many others). She is someone that fully embodies kindness, has the biggest heart and has helped make the world a much brighter, joyous and accepting place. She has touched so many hearts through her music, and her countless philanthropic efforts, and we were lucky enough to live in the same timeline she did!

DOLLY PARTON

This photo is my absolute favorite of Dolly, so I used it as my main inspiration for this whole look! It made things SUPER simple since it was basically a button up tied shirt, some jeans, her iconic hair and a big red rose!

Scarlett was beyond excited to get to dress up as Dolly! She is getting at an age where she wants to be in charge of herself, so rather than standing for pictures she told me she wanted to pose how SHE wanted to pose and for me to just keep snapping shots! haha DIVA!!! This sassy pose right here was ALL her!

Both of my girls have been members of the Imagination Library since they were born, and we are the big fans! Scarlett has since aged out of the program, but Violett still receives books each month! Every time a book would come in the mail, we all would say “thank you, Dolly!” They have known Dolly and her kindness their whole lives!

*I linked the Imagination Library in case you haven’t heard of it! It’s an amazing program for kids 0-5. Check it out!

JOLENE

Finally putting a face to the mysterious Jolene! When it comes to dressing Violett like Jolene, I basically had nothing to go off of… In the song she sings, “Your beauty is beyond compare, with flaming locks of auburn hair. With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green”. So I chose to focus entirely on the auburn hair and emerald color! haha Which made this costume almost too easy! Just bought an auburn wig and emerald dress and called it a day!

Violett has chameleon eyes that basically change color to match anything she has on, so as soon as I put her in this emerald dress, her eyes looked green!

This costume was definitely one of the simplest costumes I’ve ever put together, but I think it turned out so cute! And it felt so special to finally do this costume and commemorate such a gem of a human!