Clothes are like songs. Hearing certain music brings back particular memories, so it is with certain outfits ... I first developed my own personal style growing up in the backwoods of East Tennessee. I always loved make-up. I wanted to be pretty. Back then, any woman who wore make-up in the mountains was considered trashy. But I didn’t care. When I started buying my own make-up, 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.
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
