Williams Sonoma’s Dolly Parton Holiday Collab Is Still Underwhelming | Eater

"For the second straight year the retailer released a Dolly Parton holiday collection that recycles the singer’s signature motifs—building on the 2020 patchwork Apron of Many Colors and boxed cookie mix—with new items like Holly Dolly sugar cookie mix, cookie cutters in classic shapes including a butterfly ($30), a patchwork oven mitt-and-pot-holder set ($40), and a gold-handled rubber spatula stamped with Parton’s signature and a sweet slogan. While the collection contains a few genuinely cute pieces (the patchwork apron and holly-berry/plaid napkins) and nodded to the personal 'Coat of Many Colors' song, it otherwise reads as boring, mass-market kitchen basics that feel overpriced and tone-deaf—charging $40 for two pot holders and $17 for a cookie mix whose recipe already appears in Parton’s cookbook struck the reviewer as especially gauche. The criticism is aimed at the brand’s execution rather than the entertainer (the reviewer says they are a longtime buyer of Parton merchandise, including a $100 fragrance purchase), arguing that Parton’s rhinestone-studded, maximalist aesthetic deserved far more sparkle and bespoke flair than this sterile, cash-grab collection." - Amy McCarthy