How do you pronounce Gareth Pugh, anyway?
You asked and Faran answered (Pugh is said like pew), and then we thought – designers are difficult, and maybe we need a cheat sheet – or else face the fate that Faran once witnessed, when a fashion director heard a potential assistant say “Ralph Lauren” and never asked them back.
For designers with French names, remember that in Francais you say “er” as “ay” so: Gaulti-ay is a couturi-ay.
In French you don’t pronounce the “s” at the end of a word, so Comme des Garcons is com day gar-sohn, Yves is Eve, Hermes is air-maze (you don’t say the first h at the beginning of a French word), and Rochas was Ro-sha.
And:
Abaete is ah-bye-ah-tay.
It’s Caro-leena Herrera, not Caro-lie-na Herrara.
Nicolas Ghesquiere is Ni-co-la Guess-key-air
Givenchy is jhee-von-shee
Ralph Lauren, like the girl’s name!
Monique Lhuillier is Monique L’oo-li-ay
Christian Louboutin is Christian (with a light n) Loo-boo-tahn
Marchesa is Mar-kay-sa,
Moschino is Mo-ski-no, not moschino like the cherry
Dries van Noten is pronounced Dree-s
Raf Simons is Raff See-mon
Hedi Slimane is Eddy Sli-mahn
Olivier Theyskens is Olivi-ay Tay-skins
Now: can anyone who speaks Japanese tell me how to say Rei Kawakubo? Thanks.
–ANNA FIELDING GRIGGS
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How do you pronounce Miu Miu? I just avoid it.
emilia please. We are both right. From their website:
“It is pronounced “bee-bee.” bebe was founded as a San Francisco boutique in 1976 by Manny Mashouf, the company’s Chairman and Founder. The name bebe was selected because it represented the philosophy of the time (“to be or not to be”) as well as other multilingual meanings including the Persian name for the queen in a deck of cards and the Turkish word for woman.
Next time know your facts before you start telling other people they are wrong.
bot-TE-ga VE-ne-ta, but i´m not sure about the veneta part, could be ve-NE-ta too, but in bottega the accent is defly on the second syllable.
ooh i can actually contirbute something!
i just did a project with behnaz sarafpour
and she pronounces her name
Beh-noz Saraf-four (no ‘p’ sound)
I always feel BCBG is pronounced like the French letters, (bay say bay jay more or less) because it’s an acronym for Bon Chic, Bon Genre yet people on TV like Robert Verdi say Bee Cee Bee Gee.
I think for BV it’s supposed to be bot-TE-ga ve-NE-ta…I could be wrong.
I think people pronounce BCBG because they’re literally saying the letters out…and when you’re pronouncing the alphabet, it’s bee, cee, gee..etc.
courtney, you believe everything you read ? please!
the “to be or not to be” reference was a legal defence used when Manny was being sued by Danskin for copyright infringement for the short lived stores he opened on Union st and Embarcadero One called dancing/not dancing.
since that suit was found in Danskins favor in 1984 or 1985, it is curious that they would still feel the need to use the Shakespere quote.
the rhinestone logo t-shirts are awful, but kudos to manny on the expansion of the brand and still controlling 75% of the stock.
Ray KAwaKUbo
why can’t we just call ralph lauren, ralph lipschitz? its his original (real) name…he just didn’t want a jewish-sounding name. oh well.
Courtney, Emilia, PLEASE.
regardless of the history, it’s still pronounced BEE BEE so why are you fighting?
emilia, give it a rest.
Yes. I agree. Anyway.
Rei Kawakubo is Re-i Kah-wah-kuh-boh. The name ‘Rei’ is actually considered only two letters in the Japanese alphabet (Katakana) so Re-i as in Re-ee but soft. I am part Japanese so I’m positive. :)
Really? Sarafpour is Saraf-foor?
Rafe Totengco – Rah-fee Toh-teng-koh. The ng like in bring and sang.
Yohji Yamamoto – Yoh-jee not Yowji.
Andrew Gn – Andrew Gh-en
Loewe – Loo-wee-vay
Bea Valdez – Bay-ah Vhal-DEZ like the candy Pez. I’ve heard Valdeez oh well.
Is the “i” in Max Azria long or short?
And Salvatore Ferragamo hard or soft “g”?
FYI, fashion pips.. Monique Lhuillier is not french. She’s actually a FILIPINO from a rich clan in Cebu, Philippines.
Excuse me again.
How to pronounce LOEWE again?
Thanks
bottega veneta is bo-TAY-guh VEN-eh-tuh
and tagliapietra is TAH-lyuh-PYAY-truh (like the famous venetian glass blower)
ferragamo is a hard g
LOEWE is low-eh-wee. I’m positive.