When I enter through the doors of the sound stage, I'm greeted by Steve Summers, a former Dollywood lead dancer and Dolly's steadfast creative director of nearly 20 years. He and his team are responsible for producing every one of Dolly's ensembles -- often more than 300 looks per year -- and this building is the covert hub for all things Dolly, a universe so wide-reaching and so beloved by the masses that there is never a day to rest.
Because of the world's unquenchable thirst for Dolly, Summers' role requires a sort of gentle-yet-militaristic precision to ensure the masses are never without her. On this particular 9-to-5 day, the second half is devoted to filming promotional holiday videos for a network talk show, hence the snow-flecked Christmas tree in the corner. But for the first half of the day, they will be producing content to highlight Dolly's new collaboration with jewelry maker Kendra Scott.
Laden with rhinestones and butterflies, her 1974 hit "Love is Like a Butterfly" served as the North Star of inspiration for this first collection, with several more collections to come over the next three years, all harkening back to her roster of hits. "It's still surreal to me, the whole thing just blows my mind that we're getting to work together," Kendra Scott, the founder of the juggernaut eponymous brand, tells me. "We're working on 'A Coat of Many Colors' now, and I can't wait to do 'Jolene,' '9 to 5,' all of them. I wore out my VHS tape of 9 to 5 when I was 7 years old, and I feel like that planted a seed in my brain to build a business that is successful and gives back and is able to create beautiful pieces like these that help everyone find their inner Dolly." Out today, the collection will be available online and in all 138 Kendra Scott stores.
When I'm invited to join Dolly in the studio, she is already seated with a tray of her jewelry selected from her personal collection. "How's it going today?" I ask. "Oh, it's always going great," she says with a smile. She is donning a white leather jumpsuit embellished with rhinestones and silver stitching, a pair of custom Christian Louboutin silver stilettos in a size 5.5, and a set of fuchsia acrylic nails to match her fuchsia and turquoise eye makeup.
Despite her slight frame, the aura of Dolly is exceptionally large. When she speaks, the room grows quiet and listens intently. At the request of Vogue, Dolly was asked to unearth some of her most memorable pieces of jewelry from her home, and for a few moments she recounts the unforgettable memories and origin stories attached to each piece.
"This was my original wedding ring. When my husband and I got married back in 1966, we didn't have the money to buy anything, but my mother-in-law, Carl's mother, she had a credit at Sears, a charge account. So we bought our rings at Sears on her account. I was working a little bit and [Carl] was working, so we paid her every month on my wedding rings.