Prestige Pronunciation~ January 2, 2009

Hi all!

Ever wondered hat’s the proper pronunciation for those high end label brands? Like “Loewe”, “Versace”? Since many of these brands are not from English speaking countries, they should not be enunciated using the English phonetics right?

For once, “Loewe” is not Low-wee; and “Versace” is not Ver-sa-shay!

Imagine the faux pas* you’ll make if you step into the Versace building in Paris and you ask them show you the latest “Ver-sa-shay” bag!! Terrible!

Below is a list of the correct pronunciations for the more common high-end labels. So now, there’s no excuse for you to pronounce the names of these brands wrongly!

Anteprima (On-tay-pre-ma)
Anya Hindmarch (Un-ya Hine-march)
Agnes B. (Arg-nias Bay)
Azzedine Alaia (Aza-deen A-lye-a)
Badgley Mischka (Badge-lee Meesh-ka)
Balenciaga (Ber-larn-sia-ga)
Bally (Ba-li)
Balmain (Bahl-mahn)
Baume & Mercier (Bomi Merci-yay)
Braun Buffel (Brown Byu-furl)
Burberry Prorsum (Bur-bur-ree Pror-some)
Bvlgari (Bull-ge-ri)
Byblos (Be-blos)
Cacharel (Kare-sha-hell)
Cartier (Kar-t-tay)
Cerruti (Cher-ru-tee)
Chantal Thomass (Shan-tal To-mah)
Charles Jourdan (Sharls Shor-Darn)
Charrier (Sha-ree-ay)
Che Che New York (Chee Chee New York)
Chanel (Shuh-nel)
Chloe (Klo-ay)
Christian Louboutin (Christian Loo-boo-tahn)
Christian Lacroix (Christian Le-kwah)
Claude Montana (Kload Moan-tana)
Commes Des Garcons (Kom Day Gah-sohn)
Coccinelle (Kor-chee-nel-li)
Courreges (Coor-ash)
Cynthia Rowley (Cynthia Rao-li)
Dolce & Gabbana (Dole-chay & Ger-bana)
Donna Karan (Donna Karen)
Dries Van Noten (Drees Varn Note-earn)
Emmanuel Ungaro (Ee-man-noo-el Oon-ga-ro)
Ermenegildo Zegna (Er-men-a-geel-do Zen-ya)
Etro (Air-tro)
Fa:ge (Farge)
Fendi (Fend-ee)
Furla (Foor-la)
Georg Jensen (Jog Yen-sen)
Giambattista Valli (Gee-ahm-battista Valley)
Gianfranco Ferre (Gianfranco Fair-ray)
Gianni Versace (Gee-ya-nee Ver-sa-chee)
Givenchy (Jee-von-she)
Gucci (Goo-chi)
Guerlain (Gher-lahn)
Guy Laroche (Ghee Lah-rosh)
Helmut Lang (Hel-moot Lung)
Hermes (Air-mez)
Herve Leger (Er-vee Lee-zhee)
Issey Miyake (Is-say Mi-ya-kay)
Jaeger-LeCoultre (Yay-ger ler Koot)
Jean Paul Gaultier (Zhon Paul Gol-tee-air)
Lanvin (Larn-von)
L’Occitane (Lox-ee-tarn)
Loewe (Lo-ay-vay)
Longchamp (Long-shum)
Longines (Lawng-jeen)
Louis Feraud (Loo-ee Fay-ho)
Louis Vuitton (Loo-ee Vui-tong)
Marithe et Francois Girbaud (Mar-hi-tay ay France-sua Jee-bow)
Martine Sitbon (Marh-tin Si-bong)
Moschino (Mo-ski-no)
Narcisco Rodriquez (Nah-see-so Rodri-gehz)
Piaget (Pee-uh-jaay)
Pierre Cardin (Pier Karh-Donh)
Plein Sud (Plan Sood)
Romeo Gigli (Romeo Gee-li)
Salvatore Ferragamo (Sel-ver-tor-ray Fairer-gum-moh)
Sonia Rykiel (Sonia Ree-kee-eel)
Swarovski (Swore-off-ski)
Thierry Mugler (Teary Moo-glay)
Tissot (Tee-soh)
YSL Rive Gauche (YSL Reev Gosh)
Yves Saint Laurent (Eve San Lor-ron)

Have fun trying out the correct pronunciations! :]

(List compiled from Female Magazine, timezone.com, boramag.com and Shine from Yahoo!)

P.S. Thanks Zee for coming up with this topic during lunch! Enlightened me!

P.S.S. Faux pas is pronounced as ”foh pah” (French).