There’s a very important issue that we need to discuss: the rampant, brutal butchering of designer and brand names. It’s reaching crisis levels. Something must be done before the streets are teeming with ignorant trendinistas, blathering away like Nomi “Ver-sayce” Malone (Elizabeth Berkley) from “Showgirls.” Positively cringeworthy.
Look, I’m not saying that any of us are so enlightened that we innately know the correct pronunciation of every name. We’ve all had our fair share of read-it-but-never-said-it moments. Sadly, some of us have even suffered unfortunate Nomi moments. It ends now. Here are some commonly mispronounced names and the proper ways to say them.
Balenciaga: Bah-lin-cee-ah-gah
Bebe: Bee-bee
Bvlgari: BUHL-guh-ree
Cartier: Kar-tee-aye
Christian Lacroix: La-Kwa
Décolletage: day-cole-ay-taj
Empire (as in empire waist): em-pire OR ohm-peer (both are correct)
Ermenegildo Zegna: Er-men-a-geel-do Zen-ya
Frédéric Fekkai: fred-er-riq fehk-eye
Givenchy: zhee-von-she
Guerlain: gair-lahn
Hermés: air-mez
Hervé Léger: Air-vay Lay-jay
Issey Miyake: EE-say me-AH-kay
Kérastase: care-a-stoss
Lanvin: lahn-vahn
L'occitane: lox-ee-tan
Louboutin: loo-boo-tan
Moschino: Mo-ski-no
Proenza Schouler: pro-en-za skool-er
Ralph Lauren: ralf LOR-uhn
Ruching: roosh-ing
6267: Six-two-six-seven (not Sixty-two-sixty-seven)
Shiseido: she-say-doe
Shu Uemura: shoe-eew-ay-murah
Thierry Mugler: Tee-air-ree Moog-lay
Yves Saint Laurent: eve sanh la-rahn
Lesson adjourned. Need more help? Check out Speak Chic, the $1.99 mobile app with an A-Z list of recorded pronunciations of designer and brand names, industry lingo and such.