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The Pure Joy of Dolly Parton’s Fashion Archive

The Pure Joy of Dolly Parton’s Fashion Archive
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Photo: Jim Smeal Images/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

It’s difficult to imagine a stripped-down version of Dolly Parton, sans her sky-high blonde wig, false eyelashes, lipstick, and rhinestones. Come to think of it, I can hardly picture the music icon wearing a pair of blue jeans. It simply does not align with her public or private persona — her signature look is glamorous, glittery, and gaudy in the best way possible. And in her new photography book, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones (available today anywhere books are sold), Parton reminds the world that her flamboyant style has never been an act. Instead, it’s a reflection of who she is at her core and her lifelong motto: “To thine own self be true.”

“In this book you’ll see how, as a young artist, my self-confidence was enhanced by developing my own Dolly style and then sticking to it,” Parton, now 77, writes in the introduction. “I didn’t care about trends. Instead, I worked hard to look the way I pictured myself. Although my style has evolved as the years have gone by, I’ve stuck to the motto ‘To thine own self be true’ over the past six decades — and still do. Much as the fictional characters that populate my songs uncover essential truths about me and the people I’ve known, my clothes and makeup also reveal the real me. Maybe they’re both ‘made up,’ but they reflect my innermost self, my own personal truth.”

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Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones — which is the second installment of a trilogy that began with Parton’s 2020 best seller, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics takes readers through her decades-long career as one of the most accomplished female singer-songwriters of all time. She opens up her coveted fashion archive and shares behind-the-scenes stories about her most memorable looks, including a rhinestone chiffon gown she wore to accept her first-ever Country Music Award in 1968, her signature bejeweled jumpsuits designed by Lucy Adams, costumes from her Las Vegas residency, a halter dress she wore to the New York City premiere of Steel Magnolias, and an Old Hollywood-inspired gown she wore on the cover of her 29th solo studio album White Limozeen.

Photo: Harry Langdon/Getty Images

The book is an encyclopedia of iconic pop-culture moments; it’s a visual feast for fashion enthusiasts and a treasured keepsake for Parton’s loyal fans. But even more so than that, it serves as a reminder that Parton’s superpower — and perhaps even the reason for her record-breaking longevity in Hollywood — is her authenticity. It’s a common thread throughout Parton’s life that can be traced all the way back to her childhood, growing up in the backwoods of East Tennessee near the Smokey Mountains.

Photo: Ron Galella Images/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

“I always loved makeup. I wanted to be pretty. Back then, any woman who wore makeup in the mountains was considered trashy. But I didn’t care,” she writes. “When I started buying my own makeup, I also started dressing according to how I felt, which meant wearing tight, low-cut outfits that my mama made. I remember feeling powerful enough to go up against Daddy or Grandpa to say, ‘Now, that’s not that tight. It ain’t cut that low. It ain’t that much.’ And they’d say, ‘Yes, it is!’ But I’d be willing to get my ass whupped for it. I would sacrifice for how I wanted to look,” she writes. “The same thing happened when I moved to Nashville in 1964 to become a country star. Just like I had to persist to get my songs heard and ignite my recording career, I had to resist a lot of ‘advice’ telling me to tone down my look or choose a different type of wardrobe. In these pages, you’ll learn I never listened to any of that.”

Dolly has always been, well, just Dolly! Her personal style has evolved some over the course of her career, as you’ll see in the book, but her love for flashy fashions has never wavered. In a trend-obsessed world of people trying to be someone they’re not, Parton’s commitment to staying true to herself is refreshing, endearing, and oh-so-necessary. And it’s the reason everybody still loves Dolly, all these years later.

The Pure Joy of Dolly Parton’s Fashion Archive

Prize-winning photos highlight the impact of climate change on nature

Prize-winning photos highlight the impact of climate change on nature

Glacier Requiem by Paulo Sousa

Paulo Sousa

Each spring, residents of nearby villages drape huge blankets over the Rhône glacier in the Swiss Alps. The glacier, which is the primary source of the Rhône river, has lost 40 per cent of its volume in the past century. By shielding the ice from ultraviolet radiation, the blankets reduce melting by around 50 per cent, but they can’t stop the glacier’s retreat. Almost all glaciers in the Alps will disappear by the end of the century if emissions continue at the current rate, according to a 2019 study.

Paulo Sousa’s photograph of the shrouded glacier scooped the top prize in the 2023 Royal Society of Biology Photography Competition, worth £1000. The theme of this year’s competition was “Nature and Climate”.

“Glaciers remind us of the delicate balance between nature and humanity, serving as both sentinels of climate change and a source of life-giving freshwater for countless communities,” Sousa said in a press release. “The importance of glaciers extends beyond their icy beauty; they are vital indicators of our planet’s health and the legacy we leave for future generations.”

White Hot Home by Daniel Shipp

Daniel Shipp

The runner-up, Daniel Shipp, took this photo of a pink skunk clownfish (Amphiprion perideraion) near the island of Bunaken off Sulawesi, Indonesia. The fish is sheltered by the tentacles of a long-tentacle anemone (Macrodactyla doreensis) that has undergone bleaching. Similar to corals, sea anemones have a symbiotic relationship with the photosynthetic algae that live in their tissues. High temperatures can cause the algae to leave, and this can lead to the death of the anemone if adverse conditions persist.

Boulders Beach Penguins by Louise Pask

Louise Pask

Louise Pask was named Young Photographer of the Year for her photo of African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) on Boulders Beach in South Africa. The population of these birds fell by 65 per cent between 1989 and 2020, mainly due to declining numbers of the fish that make up their diet.

Flooded footpath by Isaac Savage

Isaac Savage

Isaac Savage, the runner-up for the young photographer prize, took this shot of a footpath inundated with floodwater in York, UK. Floods are expected to occur more frequently in the UK and with greater severity as a consequence of climate change.

Buffalo Herd by Mostafijur Nasim

Mostafijur Nasim

Among the shortlisted photos was Mostafijur Nasim‘s aerial shot of a herd of buffalo walking through a sandy field in Bogura district, Bangladesh, a country facing some of the worst impacts of climate change. Many people who once made a living from buffalo herding have switched to other professions because increasing salinity has meant there isn’t enough drinking water to sustain large herds.

Frozen Plants by Maia Tochilashvili

Maia Tochilashvili

Another shortlisted image, taken by Maia Tochilashvili, shows an evergreen plant covered in ice in Tbilisi, Georgia.

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Glasgow museum reveals its $3.7mn sculpture by Auguste Rodin goes missing

Glasgow museum reveals its $3.7mn sculpture by Auguste Rodin goes missing
Officials at Glasgow Museums say a sculpture by world-famous artist Auguste Rodin has gone missing, worth $3.7 million. The museum purchased the plaster version of Les Bourgeois de Calais back in 1901.

Jérôme le Blay, the museum’s director, has regretted the disappearance of the statue but has insisted that it “must be put into the context of the times.”

The Guardian reported that the missing sculpture had sustained damages at the time of the 1949 open-air exhibition.

Dutch dealer returns Weenix landscape stolen in the Second World War to Dresden museum

Dutch dealer returns Weenix landscape stolen in the Second World War to Dresden museum

A painting by Jan Baptist Weenix that was lost for almost 80 years is returning next week to Dresden’s Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister after a Dutch art dealer identified it as looted from the state collection and purchased it from the current holders to give it back.

Willem Jan Hoogsteder will hand over the 17th-century painting, Campagna Landscape, to the Dresden State Art Collections at a ceremony on 23 October. The painting of Italianate people in a Dutch dune landscape was purchased in 1742 for the collection of Augustus III, the king of Poland and elector of Saxony.

During the Second World War, it was put into storage in the Ore Mountains, then removed by the Soviet army to decorate the residence of a general. It entered the art market and was bought by Hoogsteder’s father at Christie’s in the US in 1984. At that point, the painting was attributed to Jan Wouwerman. It was later sold again in London and Amsterdam, and was registered in Jan Baptist Weenix’s catalogue raisonné in 2018.

“No one, including us, ever made the link to Dresden back in the 1980s,” says Hoogsteder, who is known in the Netherlands as the Old Master paintings expert on the TV programme Tussen Kunst & Kitsch, the Dutch equivalent of Antiques Roadshow.

The current holders purchased the landscape in 1995 without knowing its provenance, and approached Hoogsteder a few years ago and asked him to sell it again. Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder now employs two provenance researchers, who made the link to Dresden—which had no image of the missing painting. The inventory number on the back also did not match with the Dresden inventory number, so it took some time to identify the painting conclusively.

“It’s a difficult situation for the current owners, who bought it at auction perfectly legally,” Hoogsteder says. “But it’s difficult to sell because it was stolen by the Soviets in the war. I said to them – ‘I will buy it and give it to Dresden.’”

Dresden’s State Art Collections will present the landscape together with two other paintings that were lost during the war and recovered recently. These are a 17th-century portrait by Balthasar Denners and a Vincenzo Spisanellis painting of the flight to Egypt. Both works were acquired by the Saxon court in the 18th century.

The State Art Collections reached a settlement with the Danish private owner of the Spisanellis work. The Denners painting resurfaced on the German art market.

Paris Cultivates a New Allure

Paris Cultivates a New Allure
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It’s a lively time for the art world in the French capital, with new art foundations, fresh outposts for major galleries and the city’s relative affordability.

A century or so ago, Paris was the undisputed epicenter of the international art world, the birthplace of the avant-garde. The city teemed with talents from all over — Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Marc Chagall — who populated its artist colonies, cafes and brasseries, and made it a vibrant cultural hub.

Today, Paris is one of multiple art centers in the world. Yet it is experiencing a cultural renaissance, and reclaiming its place on the contemporary art map.

Though France is still only the world’s fourth-largest art market, with a 7 percent share (according to this year’s Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report), that share is growing. Driving the expansion are the rise of new privately funded art foundations in the French capital; the opening of first-ever Paris outposts by major international galleries; the influx of international artists drawn to the city’s relative affordability; and the departure of Britain from the European Union, known as Brexit.

“Paris is extremely lively at the moment: It’s clearly a city that’s regaining its appeal,” said Catherine Grenier, director of the Fondation Giacometti, which is dedicated to managing the estate and legacy of the sculptor Alberto Giacometti. “It’s been a long time since Paris was so active in the visual arts.”

Ms. Grenier explained that the “monopoly” that New York and London once had on the international art world has now loosened, allowing for other art scenes. Paris, “which had been somewhat eclipsed,” is today in a “privileged position,” she added.

The Fondation Giacometti plans to bolster Paris’s cultural standing further by moving in 2027 to new headquarters on the Place des Invalides, where it will set up a Giacometti museum, with several exhibition spaces, a research center and an art school.

Another sign of Paris’s growing allure is the opening this fall of the Hauser & Wirth gallery’s first-ever Paris outpost. One of the world’s top four mega-galleries, Hauser & Wirth is moving into an elegant 19th-century hôtel particulier (mansion) near the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and inaugurating the space with a solo exhibition by the African American painter Henry Taylor (whose retrospective coincidentally opened earlier this month at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York).

Hauser & Wirth is inaugurating its new Paris gallery space with a solo exhibition by the African American artist Henry Taylor, including this work, “Untitled” (2022).via the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo by Keith Lubow.

Hauser & Wirth’s president and co-founder Iwan Wirth said it had always been a dream to open in Paris, “a romantic place,” and that the gallery had been “looking for many years for the right space and for the right moment.”

“Artists want to be in Paris. They feel inspired by Paris,” he said, noting that many of the roughly 90 artists represented by his gallery had never had a commercial gallery show in Paris.

He emphasized that Brexit had no part in the decision to take the Paris space, and that Hauser & Wirth maintained its two large gallery spaces in London’s Mayfair district, as well as a firm commitment to the U.K. as a major operational base. Paris and London are “complementary,” he said.

He did acknowledge, however, that London had “lost a lot of talent and energy” because of Brexit, and that Paris happened to be “the great beneficiary.”

As an example of the hurdles that Brexit has thrown up, he said, Hauser & Wirth is now having “great difficulties” recruiting staff for its London galleries from the European continent, so “the pool of people that we can work with has suddenly been reduced.”

It had always been a dream to open in Paris, said Iwan Wirth, co-founder of Hauser & Wirth, which opened its first-ever outpost in the French capital this fall. The new gallery includes an installation in the stairwell by the artist Martin Creed, “Work No. 3839” (2023).Martin Creed. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2023, via the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo by Nicolas Brasseur

And with Britain now separated from the European Union by a hard border, the waiting time at customs for London-bound trucks was enormous, he said. As a result, artworks sometimes had to be flown in, which is much more costly.

To be sure, Paris spent the better part of the last three decades “in the shadow of London,” as the international dealer Thaddaeus Ropac recalled. Mr. Ropac has a major foothold in both cities, having opened a vast and elegant London space in Mayfair in 2017 — less than a year after the British voted in a referendum to leave the European Union.

Mr. Ropac remembered that in the 1980s, after the opening of the Pompidou Center in 1977, the spotlight had been on Paris. By contrast, London was “a rather dreary place,” with few artists of note, a small network of galleries and a “very limited market.”

Everything started changing in the late 1980s as a generation of talents known as the Young British Artists — “so new, so fresh, and so carefree,” Mr. Ropac said — were catapulted to fame and fortune thanks to the “Freeze” exhibition in 1988 curated by one of them, Damien Hirst.

The artists and their works made tabloid headlines as they won or were shortlisted for the Turner Prize. This explosion of eye-catching activity “took oxygen away from Paris,” he added. By the time Tate Modern opened in 2000 in a former power station on the southern banks of the Thames River, London “was able to position itself at the forefront of art production, presentation and communication.”

France, however, has experienced an awakening recently with the birth of vast private art foundations that have given Parisians what they weren’t getting enough of: a steady dose of high-caliber contemporary art exhibitions. First came the Fondation Louis Vuitton (established in 2014 by the billionaire Bernard Arnault, chief executive of the luxury conglomerate LVMH), followed in 2021 by the Bourse de Commerce — Pinault Collection (by the billionaire François Pinault, founder of the luxury group Kering).

The Tate Modern is still tremendously popular, helping London hold onto its status as an arts center, even as Brexit makes international trade more challenging. Alex Ingram for The New York Times

Their forerunner was the Fondation Cartier, set up in 1984, which played a pioneering role in promoting contemporary art in Paris. It is set to move soon into a new headquarters across from the Louvre.

This combination of factors has led to “a strong buildup of Paris as an incredible center” for art, Mr. Ropac said, adding that it was “nonsense” to think that “the success of Paris is basically Brexit.”

Paris also has more affordable housing and studio space, which means that artists can live in the center of the scene and mingle and collaborate more easily, said Marco Brambilla, a film and digital artist who moved from London to Paris last year and whose video collage (about the birth of Las Vegas and the death of Elvis Presley) was recently presented at the opening of the Sphere entertainment venue in Las Vegas.

“It has become so expensive to live anywhere central in London that you find that the lifestyle is not within reach for people who work in the arts,” said Mr. Brambilla. He said Paris was benefiting from “a confluence” of factors including a growing collector base, strong government support for culture, and corporate spending on private institutions. This combination “creates an energy” that “makes the city more relevant right now,” he said.

Ultimately, however, Mr. Ropac advised against overestimating Paris, and said London was definitely still “critical.” As evidence, he pointed to the continued success of Tate Modern as a center of modern and contemporary art.

“I wouldn’t write off London at all,” he added. “I think these two cities can almost perfectly coexist.”