The Ultimate Sin: Mispronunciation

There's perhaps nothing more embarrassing than striking a conversation with a knowledgeable fashionista and realizing that Hermes is not, in fact, pronounced anything like the STD. Nor is Givenchy pronounced Gah-vin-chee (that's to you, Whitney Port.)

But how is one supposed to keep track of all these foreign names? Fret not, dear readers, for there are plenty of resources to guide your quivering tongues.

• Some kids over at Chictopia put together this cute video that tackles a few names.
• As part of a luxury brand study, students at IMHC (a hotel management school in Canada) recorded short YouTube videos of a person pronouncing each designer.
• Fashionista has done a few posts about pronunciation, where they spell out the names phonetically. They also put together an insanely helpful fashion glossary, that comes complete with phonetic spellings for the tougher names.

If you Google around, you'll find that a lot of variation in the way people pronounce names. So the real trick is to talk confidently and act like you know your stuff. Maybe you'll convince whoever you're talking to that they don't know how to say it right.

Closet Case

I've dreamed of replicating Cher's computerized closet since the first time I watched Clueless. Last summer I even took pictures of pre-assembled outfits (yeah, I know, I'm a freak) for "I have nothing to wear" kind of days.
For anyone who's ever loved picking your outfit the night before, your prayers have been answered. I read about Closet Couture in the May issue of Vogue and immediately created an account. The site allows you to photograph and upload your clothes into a virtual closet. It's similar to Polyvore, in that you drag and drop items and save a look, but it's more streamlined and uses your own photos. You can also buy clothes on the website or pay professional stylists to sort through your uploaded stuff and put together outfits.

Uploading your closet is a bit tedious. To get my wardrobe started, I stuck to photographing everything I'm packing for my upcoming trip to London. (I figured this is the perfect way to take inventory and keep track of what I'm hauling over there.) It was a long process, but really? I'm on summer vacation and don't really have anything better to do. If you're as bored these days as I am, check the site out. Happy matching!