A video of her walking to school while dressed in a white wig, a sparkly dress and a mini guitar has received over 3 million views.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on March 29, 2023. It has since been updated.
Dolly Parton, renowned country music and cultural icon of the 90s continues to have a significant fan following in today's times. A 6-year-old girl named Stella Ruby gained people's attention on TikTok for dressing up as a singer. Her mother, Dana Troglen, shared a video of Stella dressed in a white wig, a sparkly dress and a mini guitar walking to school, winning countless hearts on the video-sharing platform. The video has accumulated over 3 million views, 500 likes and thousands of comments from people applauding the youngster.
Stella reportedly donned the costume to resemble one of her favorite singers for "book character day" at her school at the end of February. Her outfit featured a blond wig, a star-spangled dress, golden leggings and a miniature guitar.
The first grader told Good Morning America: "I [chose] Dolly 'cause I like her very much and it's a fun thing to do." Troglen, a mother of two and photographer for Wandering Maverick Photo and Film in Tennessee, revealed that she assisted in creating her daughter's costume and felt compelled to post it on social media.
The mother said, "I love to make videos and so I just started recording her walking into school and threw some music on there and I could not control my laughter. [It's] just a normal mom thing to share."
The mother-daughter duo used their creativity to create the magical costume as a team. Troglen said, "Dolly's always sparkly and so we pulled our sparkly pieces and we coincidentally just had that dress with the stars on it that had a similar neckline and I just cut up some birthday fringe and fabric glued it down her sleeves and made it a little bit shiny and extra."
She added, "We love dress-up days. We like to have fun with them and just go the extra mile, fuel our creativity. We like to make our own stuff a lot." Troglen is happy that her video has been able to brighten the day of many people on the internet. The mother said, "I thought it was really cool to make some people laugh. So many people got a really good kick out of it. I'm glad that everybody found some joy in it like we did."
TikTok users have left several encouraging comments for Ruby. @aimihenryrozier said, "She looks like she can't handle one more bad audition. She's over it." Another user @rachelbmz commented, "She is walking with a mission on purpose. You go Dolly mini-me."
@kim_flood said, "She needs Dolly's entourage to help with the book bag." Many people commended Troglen's parenting, with @southdoc writing, "I don't care what anybody says, this is parenting done right." The viral video is a testament to the power of creativity and the joy it can bring to others. Moreover, it displays the incredible love and admiration the world has for Parton.