DID YOU KNOW?

I can say this loud and often enough; fashion pronunciation can be a trap. One, I’m ashamed to admit as fashion writer, I’ve occasionally fallen victim to, so that is why I know how important it is for us fashion enthusiast to know our Balmain from your Balmarrrrn. Here are a few more names worthy of learning.

BALMAIN

Sounds a bit like an eye-roll when you say it but trust me, it’s bal-marrn

COMME DES GARÇONS

The label famous for the happy little heart appliqué (and 40 years of the world’s most avantgarde couture) is a Japanese brand named after a French song lyric from the 70s. It translates to mean “like boys’’ and pronounced dey gah-sown

HERMÉS

Do NOT say this word phonetically, cause it’s the biggest disservice to this iconic brand. The word is pronounced er-mess and also worthy of note is if you want to type an accent on a letter, just hold the letter key down for a couple of seconds and voila! You have it.

RALPH LAUREN.

Straight up. Ralph as in Ralph Wiggum and Lauren as in Lauren Conrad is pronounced ‘ralph LAUR-en’. It’s not lau-REN as many people still project or ‘ralph loREN’, with an emphasis on the final syllable.

LANVIN

Pronounce LAHN-VAHN any other way and it can sound like a supermarketbrand moisturiser. It also doesn’t need either syllable emphasised. It’s the surname of Jeanne Lanvin who founded the French label back in 1889.

ROCHAS

Pronounced ROSHAR. This one does go by “shh”. It’s a soft sound, hcause the

“s” is silent. Rochas is another century-old French fashion house that derives its name from founder Marcel Rochas.