Avril's New Look

Thank you for participating in this week's Naked Lunch. We discussed Avril Lavigne's new look and what we might expect from Avril in the future. Please read the discussion and comments and use the comment link below to contribute further. We look forward to next week's Naked Lunch!

Avril hasn't given the runway looks her own twist yet. And there is probably a stylist helping her. Perhaps once she gets rid of the stylist and starts wearing high fashion her own way, we will see more of Avril - the individual - come through in her dress. Derick

AP PHOTO

Avril Lavigne poses in an Armani gown at the 59th International film festival in Cannes.

The point about how Avril's exposure to the fashion and Hollywood establishments will affect her music is a really interesting one. We have very few clues as to what she REALLY thinks about high fashion and Hollywood. She appears to be embracing it. But we still might see her rebellious side emerge. I think that her true opinions will surface in her next album. Bernadette

And what about record sales? You could argue that this new look will be much more appealing on a record album cover than before?

Yes, and she will likely appeal to a much broader market. When she first came on the scene Avril was anti-establishment and stood out from all the other manufactured pop stars. She wore vintage, beat up sneakers and didn't seem to care about grooming. And she looked like a real teen, which is probably why her young fans identified with her, beyond the lyrics in her songs. Is she running the risk of alienating her original fans? Perhaps they are ready to grow up too? But very few will be able to afford the expensive designer clothes Avril is wearing. So if they dressed like her before, what will they wear now? Bernadette & Derick

Someone in today's story on Avril makes a comparison to Madonna, saying that her evolution was much slower than Avril's sudden overnight change. Is this the second coming - of a singer who understands the power of transformation?

In today's pop star arena, talent is just one part of the equation. To keep the fans, to gain new fans, to constantly stay in the spotlight you have to reinvent, provide change, keep them guessing. No one understood this better than Madonna. However, each of her image overhauls have been carefully and slowly orchestrated - not one look today and another 2 weeks from now. Her transformations always coincided with a new album, new project, etc and was heavily splashed around the world. It appears that Avril is embracing her new-found love for high fashion but it remains to be seen how she will play it out. By attending the Chanel couture show earlier this year in Paris, she is slowly building a style conscious profile. And it will be interesting to see how this will reflect in her new album. Derick

One of the comments suggests that Avril should go after the cover of Vogue or InStyle. What do you think?

AP PHOTO

The Canadian actress-musician, promoting the film Over the Hedge in which she voices an animated character, also wore a ruffled blouse.

She was already featured this year in a fashion spread in Harper's Bazaar with her new blond look. And I'm sure if she lands an advertising contract with a major fashion house she will be gracing a few fashion magazine covers. She is certainly prepping for it wearing those major fashion labels. Derick

Do you think that Avril's new look is authentic? Or has she been pushed into playing the role of a Hollywood starlet?

Time will tell. Maybe she will stick with this new look and grow into it. Or maybe she will go back to her old, rebellious self. One clue might be the rocker pose she struck on the steps of the screening hall at Cannes. (See the photo gallery with today's online Fashion section.) As the caption with the photo says, you can take the girl out of the rocker clothes, but you can't take the rocker out of the girl. Bernadette

Here are more comments from readers that arrived over the last week:

Avril looks greatly startling and this new face of style looks wonderful on her. As a trademark of Canada, her slacker style now gone exposes her maturity. Go Avril, get on the cover of In Style! or Vogue...We're behind you! -- Michelle

She's growing up and realizes that youth is fleeting. More importantly, fame is fleeting. You sometimes have to change your appearance in order to stay in front of the cameras. -- Kerry Burrage.

I think it is refreshing and encouraging that this young woman who is a role model for so many young girls has demonstrated such maturity. She has shown us her talent and now she shows her fans that you don't have to be a "bad girl" with "attitude" to succeed and there really is a place for those young stars who really "grow up." -- P.Fisher

Who cares about her new look. She chose her skater-boy look when she was just in her teens and she's a young adult now. Imagine how stupid we would all look if we never made a change to our personal style.

I think that Avril has tremendous style right now, although I do feel that she is trying very hard to fit the mold that she is being asked to conform to…  I’m hoping that Avril has matured instead of conformed to satisfy the public and simply realized that what she was wearing before may have been fine for a girl/teenager but was inappropriate for a young woman trying to fit into mainstream society.  Post-transformation, Avril looks polished and classy. -- Jaymee MacKenzie

As long as see she looks greats, who cares, she can't be 17 forever.

Her new look is horrible.  She used to look like a breath of fresh air, with her own quirky sense of style; then, in poorly chosen Chanel, she looked as though she was wearing her mother's clothes.  Now she looks tart-ish and insecure -- always with an uncomfortable smile, as though she knows she's trying to be something/someone that she isn't, and shouldn't be.

Avril looks great. She's growing up. Do we want her to look like a punk at age 40?- Jim H

She sold out, just like Nelly Furtado. -- Simone

Avril ..... Chubby face, stringy mousey long hair, cover the shoulders & arms, hips too wide, always poor eye makeup choice, spoiled brat attitude, all = Misfit. --
Benni in Waterloo

The new Avril is disappointing. She had such a uniqueness and spark about her and she has definitely lost that with this new look. She now looks like all the other celebrities - boring! Be yourself, Avril. That's what really made you interesting and made you stand out from the others. I'm not even close to being a peer of Avril's but her inimitable qualities attracted me to her and her music. Let's go back to the awesome and the original, real you, Avril. -- dk

As a Canadian, and a proud one, I find it really, really, disconcerting that you would devote the cover of your fashion page to judging Avril's choice of clothes. I find this petty, mean spirited, and distasteful. We celebrate American's who dress in outrageous styles, but never seem able to support our own talent. Wearing wild clothes just goes with the territory of being a star -- why do we need to mercilessly judge them?
-- Dr. Marina Quattrocchi

Comments

[Jessica Levitt]

A better thing to comment on is her career choice in signing on to Ford Models. Avril was a great role model for my little sister when she was asserting that glamour is excessively wasteful and unimportant. After reading her comment "I look through magazines and stare at ads and think, I'm not six feet tall, but I know I can do that" in Harper's Bazaar, I've bought my sister Pink's single 'Stupid girls'. Avril is clearly about style now, not substance.

[Bill Smitherman]

I think Avril's look makes perfect sense. Every hipster kid in Toronto is wearing black and white horizontal stripes this spring. People who don't dig it are focusing on the Armani tag on the dress's label and that line's current old school status. The aesthetic is right in line with everything hanging right now at H&M, Le Chateau etc.

And how about some Canadian suggestions from the local fashion insiders offering up advice? Zoran Dobric does a great goth gown or an Andy The Anh dress would definately deliver the glamour boost she's after.

[Paula Simms]

This was my first time at Fashion Cares and I had a great time. I think though for future years you should have changerooms and mirrors in the boutique area. I also think that young designers should be given an opportunity to showcase their cloths. The last suggestion is that the silent auction items as well as the boutique merchandise should be put out in waves. By the time the Gala ticket holders went through the boutique all of the items were picked over so when the General Admission people came in there weren't alot of items to choose from.