By Kate Sullivan, Allure magazine
When Anderson Cooper flubbed the pronunciation of Manolo Blahnik (muh-NO-low BLAH-nick, for the record) during an interview with Sarah Jessica Parker-he called a pair of shoes "Bolanecks"-he managed to come off as charmingly unpretentious.
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When mangling designer names, the rest of us are more likely to sound like Elizabeth Berkley's clueless character in Showgirls, decked out in a dress by "Ver-sase." Of course we've all had those read-it-but-never-said-it moments with a well-known fashion or beauty brand name; even certain design words ("ombré," "ruching") can leave the savviest of tastemakers tongue-tied. In the past, we've "Coopered" everything from "décolletage" to "Shu Uemura"-but it ends now.
Here, some of the most frequently mispronounced words in fashion and beauty, and how to say them phonetically:
Bulgari - BUHL-guh-ree
Caudalie - koh-da-lee
Clé de Peau Beaute clay duh poe BO-tay
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Décolletage - day-cole-ay-taj
Empire - (as in empire waist) em-pire OR ohm-peer (They're both correct!)
Frédéric Fekkai - fred-er-riq fehk-eye
Givenchy - zhee-von-she
Guerlain - gair-lahn
Hermés - air-mez
Illamasqua - ill-ah-moss-kwa
Issey Miyake - EE-say me-AH-kay
Kérastase - care-a-stoss
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La Roche-Posay -la roshe po-ZAY
Lanvin - lahn-vahn
L'Occitane - lox-ee-tan (Don't worry-you're not the only one who has gotten that one wrong.)
Louboutin - loo-boo-tan
Louis Vuitton -lou-ee VEE-tonn
Narciso Rodriquez - nar-SIS-oh rah-DREE-gez
Ombré - om-bray
Oribe - or-bay
Proenza Schouler - pro-en-za skool-er
Ralph Lauren - ralf LOR-uhn
Rochas - ro-SHOSS
Ruching - roosh-ing
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Shiseido - she-say-doe
Shu Uemura - shoe-eew-ay-murah
Olivier Theyskens - oh-liv-ee-yay tay-skins
Yves Saint Laurent - eve sanh la-rahn
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Photo Credit: Roger Cabello
