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FashTips: Fashion Brands Pronunciation?

BVLGARI

BVLGARI is an Italian fine jewelry house first opened in 1884 in Rome. Today, though, it also has leather goods, watches, perfumes, silks (ties and scarves) and more to its name. The name BVLGARI is written in Latin, so the letter that looks like a “V” is actually a “U”. So it’s pronounced Bulgari—BULL(like the animal)-GAHR(as in ‘garden’)-EE(like the letter “e”). In fact, if you type “bvlgari” into Google, it will lead you to the BVLGARI website, which is actually www.bulgari.com.

Chanel

This is a VERY important one! Some people might think it’s a no-brainer, but if I hear another person pronounce it “Channel” I will actually lose my mind. The House of Chanel was started in early 20th century France by the one and only Mademoiselle Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel. Chanel has fine women’s sportswear and eveningwear and is run today by Karl Lagerfeld (pronounced “Carl Loggerfelld”). Chanel is properly pronounced “Sha-nelle”, “Sha” like in “shove” and “nelle” like in the name “Nell”. Chanel.

Givenchy

It’s true, these French names can be difficult, but this is another important one. Hubert de Givenchy opened the House of Givenchy in 1952, alongside greats like Christian Dior and Balenciaga. He was also the chief designer for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Audrey Hepburn. Though Givenchy himself retired in 1995, the Givenchy Femme line is perpetuated by Italian designer Riccardo Tisci. Givenchy is pronounced with a French “J” sound, a soft “jz” made with the tip of the tongue, almost like saying “shh”. So it’s “jzhiv-on-shee”, since the French “e” makes a long “o” sound, and the “ch” is a “sh” sound. Givenchy.

Hermès

Known for its little orange logo, Hermès is a French company begun in 1837 by Emile Hermès. It produces fine leather goods, like handbags and wallets, and fine silk goods, like scarves and ties, among other things like perfume, shoes, jewelry and more. Hermès is pronounced “AIR-MEZZ”, not “HER-MEEZ”. So when you see the little orange logo, you know what to say. Hermès.

Tommy Hilfiger

Making his first collection in 1985, Tommy Hilfiger has since grown to include not only menswear and women’s wear, but children’s clothes, bedding, and more. The Hilfiger style is said to be classic Americana, and has many lines of denim and casual wear to back that up. You’d think that since this is an American designer, people might not butcher the pronunciation, but every so often I hear people say “Hillfigure” and it’s just not right. The correct pronunciation of this designer’s last name is “HILL- (like “hills and valleys”)- FIG- (like the fruit) ER (like in the word “nerd”). Hilfiger.

Yves Saint Laurent

Though he first worked for Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurentintroduced his own line in 1962. He invented several items of clothing, like the smoking jacket, the sheer blouse, and the jumpsuit. Though Saint Laurent retired in 2002, the label continues under the creative direction of Stefano Pilati. Saint Laurent believed that “dressing is a way of life” and is one of the most important, influential designers of the 20th century. His first name is pronounced “Eves” like “Christmas and New Year’s Eves”. “Saint Laurent” is his last name, pronounced “SAHN” like in “song” and “LORE-ONT” like “lore” in the word “folklore” and “ONT” like in the word “want.” Yves Saint Laurent.




And a video from Connie & Marcus of Chictopia. Chictopia is the lookbook before LookBook. But I prefer LookBook more :D
Go to the video page to read the comments, some of the brands pronounced here are not correct but anyways! You can also youtube for more pronunciations on other brands and words as well. It really helps but just make sure it's correct! Listen to a few before deciding to practice it the next time you walk in Yves Saint Laurent or purchasing a Guerlain make-up set, I've been dying for a Meteorite Illuminating Powder since forever but ahh that can wait ;)

Now the guide to pronouncing designer label names:

Anya Hindmarch: Ahn-ya Heind-march

Badgley Mischka: Badge-lee Meesh-ka

Bebe: Bee-bee

Bottega Veneta: Bo-tega Ven-e-ta

Bulgari: Ball-gah-ree

Burberry Prorsum: Bur-bur-ree Pror-some

Carolina Herrera: Caro-leena Hair-era

Christian Louboutin: Loo-boo-tin

Gareth Pugh: Gareth Pew

Giles Deacon: Jy-els Dee-kin

Givenchy: Jhee-von-shee

Hedi Slimane: Eddy Sli-mahn

Hermès: Air-mez

Hervé Léger: Air-vay Lay-jay

Lanvin: Lon-vin

Loewe: Low-ev-ay

Louis Vuitton: Loo-ee Voo-ee-ton

Marchesa: Mar-kay-sa

Moschino: Mo-ski-no

Nicolas Ghesquière: Ni-co-la Guess-ki-air

Olivier Theyskens: Oli-vier Tay-skins

Pierre Cardin: Pee-air Car-dain

Proenza Schouler: Pro-enza Skool-er

Ralph Lauren: Ralph Lauren (as in Lauren the girl’s name, not Sophia Loren)

6267: Six-two-six-seven (not Sixty-two-sixty-seven)

Thakoon: Ta-koon

Thierry Mugler: Tee-air-ree Moog-lay

Yohji Yamamoto: Yo-jee Ya-ma-mo-to

Here’s a guide to prevent any possible faux-pas. (Note: There are also other guides all around the internet on pronouncing designer names here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.)

"Ituler pentingnya Inglish Education!" - Usop Wilcha
Well in this case Usop, fashion brands pronunciation ;) Hope this helps! Any thoughts or opinions on this? Do share.


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20 comments:

  1. Pelik ada org still sebut Chanel = Channel. Hehee...i slalu ckp YSL je.

    Sapa xsebut btol2, "kita bakor je..." ;P

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  2. @Betty, weird aye? I agree on the bakor bakor part LOL! *kirai2 tangan*

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  3. kena byk bermain dgn lidah utk myebut brand2 nie dgn betul.Time study kt Limkokwing, my lecturer ada ajar cara nak pronounce dgn betul..LOL.

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  4. whoah good info ami! thanks you so much! :)

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  5. Cool Thanks for this! I sebut YSL as ye-ves saint lauren before. Now I know I'm wrong.Ha!

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  6. i never thought pronouncing these could be soo hard haha kak ami, nice one!

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  7. thank you ami for the info! is it ok for me to share at my blog? tq

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  8. thank u ami for the useful info! is it ok for me to share at my blog? tq

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  9. @jaja, sure.. share away. just link back pretty please? :)

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  10. wow...berbelit lidah sekejap..hehehehe...useful info actually...:) nak skare ye ami..dont worry, i'll backlink nanti..:)

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  11. Rofl French pronunciations can be complicated at times!! Bryanboy made a hilarious post about this as well ♡ You've got a wonderful blog sweetie!

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  12. phewh! thank God i got most of 'em correct all this while, except for Loewe. i seriously didn't know how to pronounce that and i never did because i was so afraid i got it wrong haha. there's one more brand (but it's french swiss, not german swiss)that i found many would wrongly pronounce, TAG Heuer.

    i usually hear people saying 'teg-hiu-wer' and some say 'tag' (pronounced like 'tuck') as how germans would pronounce them (as in 'guten tag' or 'good day').

    it's supposed to be pronounced as
    'tag' as in the word 'bag' and 'hoy-er' stressing on the first syllable. the 'TAG' has nothing to do with the german word 'tag' (pronounced 'tuck') which means 'day' because it's actually short for Techniques d'Avant Garde, again french and not german.

    so it's TAG (as in 'tag, you're in') and Heuer (hoy-er) =)

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  13. do visit my new blog

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    thanks! :)

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  14. Louboutin isn't prounounced as Loo-boo-tin tho. It's Loo-boo-tagn, fading the letter N a little bit because he's French :)

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  15. Ami! This is such a great info. It actually is funny to fight over how to pronounce it with friends. Nasib you put this, I won hahaha. Diaorg salah. hahaha

    xoxo,
    Harleen

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  16. Good one, but just one error, for Lanvin its shud pronounce as "Lan-Van" not "vin" :)

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    http://zalikha-tulisan.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

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