Megan Moroney Channels Dolly Parton’s Signature ‘Jolene’ Look for PEOPLE’s World’s Most Beautiful Issue

Megan Moroney is once again channeling Dolly Parton, as she recreates the country music icon’s Jolene album cover for PEOPLE’s World’s Most Beautiful Issue.

The annual issue highlights stars who are redefining beauty, doing things their own way, and inspiring others along the way. It typically features a highly anticipated cover star and a lineup of women making an impact across entertainment, music, and beyond. This year, Moroney is part of that group for her contribution to the country music genre.

As part of the Icons Only feature, Moroney fully embraced the look, from the teased blonde hair to the soft glam. She even tracked down a striped outfit that closely mirrors what Parton wore on the original 1974 cover. Her hairstylist, Jessica Miller, explains she combined multiple wigs to mimic the voluminous style that Parton is known for.

Moroney teamed up with her glam team to bring the vision to life. While using extensions is nothing new for the songstress, she notes that this particular look called for something bigger.

“I usually use extensions, but there’s not enough extensions in the world to get Dolly Parton hair,” Moroney joked in the interview with PEOPLE.

The outfit also took some extras effort as stylist Lindsey Dupuis Bledsoe worked with designer Mariana Romanova to recreate the jumpsuit. They pieced together details using reference photos from Parton’s book Behind the Seams.

“It took about a day and a half,” Dupuis says. “We researched because there’s not a lot of pictures of Dolly standing in it; she’s seated the whole time. But I have [Parton’s] book Behind the Seams, and it has a full-length picture of her, so that’s how we figured out what was happening.”

As for the makeup, artist Jessica Candage kept it simple, leaning into “neutral, peach tones” that complemented both Moroney and Parton’s similar features.

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This was an especially meaning shoot as Moroney is currently 28, the same age as Parton was when she released Jolene. The Georgia native has been a fan of Parton for as long as she can remember.

“I must have learned the songs in the womb,” she joked with PEOPLE. “I don’t remember an age where I learned these songs; I feel like I was born and I knew them. So I blame my mom for playing a lot of Dolly Parton in the car. I grew up in a household where it was like, ‘In this house, we respect Dolly Parton.’”

Parton has not only given Moroney the confidence to embrace her true self, whether that be by dressing up every chance she gets or writing music from a place of honesty.

“As someone who also loves to dress up, wear a lot of makeup, have a lot of hair, I think owning it and just knowing that this is all fun, but who I am on the inside is the most important part. I don’t know Dolly personally, but I think she has a heart of gold, the way that she gives back and how gracious and kind she is.”

The “6 Months Later” singer also reflected on the fact that Parton had no idea what was in store for her at the time she released “Jolene” and that’s something that fuels Moroney’s excitement about what the future might hold for her own career.

“It’s inspiring to think the road ahead, even though right now seems so crazy and I’m so just in the middle of it,” Moroney notes. “I was even saying today, I wonder if in however many years when I’m Dolly’s age, if some younger artist is going to be dressing up like me and recreating one of my album shoots. I always find it inspiring when I get to do stuff like this because it’s like, you never know what’s going to happen. And I see a lot of myself in her.”

This also isn’t the first time Megan Moroney has dressed up as Dolly Parton. She also posed as the country music queen back in October, channeling the singer’s timeless 1978 Playboy cover. Her look featured everything from the black strapless corset, bunny ears, bedazzled bow tie, feathery heels and of course the voluminous blonde hairstyle.

“What would Dolly Parton do?” Moroney captioned the post.

With nine ACM nominations and her upcoming Cloud 9 Tour kicking off next month, Megan Moroney is riding major momentum, echoing the kind of early-career breakout once seen with Dolly Parton at a similar stage in her rise.