SAY WHAT?-Designer Names Pronunciation Guide

Wow, now I can say them in my mind correctly!:hysterical: Nice resource.
 
lol -- he does sound VERY depressed...

I have been pronouncing Thierry Mugler and Romeo Gigli incorrectly for years! THe Shame, The Shame!!!!
 
I have always understood that Schiaparelli 'sch' should be the same pronounciation as school so Ski-ap-arelli

The two that are always mispronounced are Molyneux which should be pronounced Molly-nucks (not moly-noo)and Mainbocher should be Main-bocker (not man-bo-shay).
 
The Italian sounds like he's weary to the bone from telling, for the thousanth time, stupid Americans how to pronounce ( for example)

Ermenegildo Zenga

ErmenEH-<i>JILL</i>do GHEN-gah? Who knew? Not I, though I thought I did till now :)

But absent from the list is one of my favorite, tres ponderous designer names,

Ann Demeulemeester (it's deh-MULE-eh<I>MEESTER</I> or so I've been told - haven't yet taken the opportunity to elicit the derision of a Barneys salesperson by asking where I might find the clothes bearing her name). Not that she designs for that 'label' anymore - but

those darned Belgians!

:)

Carolyn
 
GERN-rikke (with a good gutteral Germanic <i>eeekhe</i> on the second syllable) ??

GAYRNE-reek?

Clearly I don't know! Just fishin' :)

Carolyn
 
This is so useful!

I made a spectacle of myself at a talk by Wayne Hemingway at Borders in Brighton. He mentioned the latest 'must have' handbag (during his angry dismissal of the current fashion industry and why he was no longer involved) - a baguette, but he couldn't remember the name.

So of course I pipe up, and shout 'Fendi' making it rhyme with 'bendy'. Heck, I've never heard anyone say that name so how was I to know?

He corrected me nicely - 'Fondie' - and everyone laughed. For far too long! :BAGUSE:
 
Carrie - I'd guess 'Seal' for Ceil, but I'm a very unreliable witness!

Dorothea - I'm pretty sure its 'Lon-van', but see above and check with someone else before you announce it before an audience. ;)
 
Schiaparelli is Ski-ap-are-elly

However, I was wrong earlier when I said Mainbocher should be pronounced Main Bocker. Apparently when he was young, he pronounced it 'Main Bosher', but when he went to France he made it more French sounding and did pronounce it 'Mahnboshay'. However, Molyneux was definately pronounced Mollynukes -- that is in the Hardy Amies biography.
 
well l guess they pronounce it differently in france!! l'm not gonna tell my mum and dad that they are wrong after all these years!!! LOL
 
Schiaparelli in her book says that people mispronounced her name all the time. Because she worked in Paris her name was often incorrectly pronounced in a French manner but she was Italian and the Italian pronounciation is correct of a hard K sound with the ch.
 
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