The 28 Most Frequently Mispronounced Fashion and Beauty Words





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 Beauteclay 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