The many postures of Avril

Avril Lavigne is so easy to attack that it makes me feel lethargic just thinking about her. But, having conquered girl power pseudo-punk, Avril is apparently intent on expanding into fashion and even acting. She is just asking for a cuffing.

When I first heard her career launching first single, "Complicated", I pictured a 20-something coffee shop country singer. I was dumbfounded when I finally saw Avril Lavigne in a music video, acting tough and dressed in the latest punk styles from your neighbourhood mall. There was an amazing disconnection between what was coming out of her mouth (easy listening rock) and how Avril was being marketed (sexy tomboy with attitude). Yet, a lot of people seemed to eat it up, buying her albums and dressing up like her. Musicians seemed eager to write music with her, from hippy dippy Raine Maida to manufactured pop product Kelly Clarkson - the latter was literally shoved aside by Avril before their secretive collaboration.

Recently, Avril appears to have become possessed by the spirit of Stepford. She has started wearing frilly goth dresses and dyed her hair blonde. It became hard to tell her apart from the various other pop princesses she once distanced herself from, although Avril had the Shirley Temple look down better than either Britney or Christina Aguilera. During this phase, I did not see Avril's rendition of rocking out, "Sk8ter Boi", or the angst-ridden "Nobody's Home". I imagine it would have been like Dakota Fanning doing any Good Charlotte song.

The latest development is Avril's entry into high fashion. Avril is featured in the February issue of Harper's Bazaar (pretty photo seen on the left) and attended the Chanel Haute Couture show on Tuesday. She is clearly commited to this new Barbie direction having signed with Ford Models.

One photo that is missing from this blog is of a 13 year old country-loving Avril: afro perm, no makeup and country stylings. I've seen it before but I can't find it in any of the Avril fan sites. It's too bad that Avril's nerdy pre-pubescent self is not embraced by Avril nor her fans because I suspect that it is closer to the true Avril than any of her angry posturing or current elegant preening.