Coral Amber

I was trying to explain to my mom who Avril Lavigne was, while flipping through a magazine I mentioned her CDs and what she looked like, ending with: "you know, she wears all that black eyeliner." Then I turned the page of my magazine and there was a picture of Avril, but something was wrong. This girl didn't have charcoal rimmed eyes. Her hair was shiny and blonde, neatly pulled into a ponytail with curled ends. And she was smiling!

Avril Lavigne is known for being a pop star with attitude to spare. As a teen sensation, she prided herself on her pseudo-punk image that was all about wearing Dickies and Converse and hanging out with her skater friends. Her songs were about teen life, angsty emotions, and boys. I remember when I had a particularly bad breakup I embraced "My Happy Ending" as a sort of theme song for my bitterness.

While she still has a penchant for black, a lot of other things have changed. Her hair has transformed from strands of brown, black, and bleach to a shining champagne blond ala Hollywood. Avril has traded in her skull covered tank tops for lace trimmed camisoles. The men's ties she once wore with a sarcastic air have been replaced by fitted blazers. Instead of clomping around in combat boots, she is stepping out in pointed toe heels. She used to wear black rubber bracelets and flip off cameramen, but now she is showing off the white diamond on her ring finger.

I would like to think that part of Avril's transformation is due to her engagement to Deryck Whibley, the lead singer of the Canadian band Sum 41. Paparazzi pictures show them shopping together, holding hands, kissing, feeding each other dessert, and whispering in each other's ears. He is probably a big part of why photographers are catching her smiling so much (although I'm sure all the money and fame help too). They live together and have recently decided to call a mansion in Bel Air their home. Avril has even thought about having children some time in the future.

I doubt that twenty-five year old Deryck is the sole cause of her exterior changes. However he may influence her, I believe that Avril is simply growing up. Avril turned twenty-one last year and twenty-one is leaps and bounds more mature than seventeen. The changes seen so easily in photos are really a manifestation of her changing view point as she matures from a teen into a young lady (done without a Britney style 'Not a Girl, Not yet a Woman' number on her last CD). Since she first came onto the scene she has had a chance to explore more and she has started perusing other interests.

Most recently she was seen on the orange carpet with Bruce Willis at Nickelodeon's Annual Kids' Choice Awards. They both provide voices for characters in DreamWorks new animated feature Over the Hedge. Avril is also acting in the think piece Fast Food Nation and a crime thriller called The Flock.

In an article in February's Harper's Bazaar Avril said, "I'm starting to feel more feminine. I'm getting into hair and make-up and image."

To this end, Avril has made efforts to look and dress differently. At the closing ceremony for the Torino Olympics, Avril sang and was sporting her new glam hair and a fitted black ensemble with choice high heeled knee high boots. The Harper's Bazaar photo shoot showed Avril as a graceful beauty. She is wearing designer dresses by Gucci and Chanel. She tells how she received some designer handbags as gifts and fell in love with fashion. Recently, Avril attended the Chanel Haute Couture Show in Paris for Fashion Week.

Her burgeoning interest in fashion led her to join the Ford modeling agency in New York. At 5'2" she probably won't be sauntering down many runways, but she believes that she could do print ads; and after seeing her Harper's photos I tend to agree.

With all of these changes, some fans are bound to feel betrayed. They fell in love with the angry, anti-fashion Avril who uttered the Britney bashing comment, "I won't wear skanky clothes that show my booty, my belly or my boobs." In an interview for Stella she was asked if she stands by that statement.

"'I don't know how far I would go,' she says, adding that the booty comment was made when she was 17. 'I think it would be done in a more classy, sexy way if I was showing more skin, as opposed to a' - she pauses, choosing her words carefully - 'provocative, maybe slutty way.' She starts laughing. 'I'm not saying that about them' - meaning Spears et al - 'I'm just saying.'"

With all these changes going on in her life will her music change too? Avril tells Stella that "the few new songs she's written are more positive than before, but she doesn't anticipate radically changing. 'I believe in expanding and doing different stuff, but I also think it's important to kind of stay familiar to your fans. Your fans like you for what you are.'"