If nothing else, Fashion Week is Everyman’s big chance to impress. So it was that we overheard the following conversation between one such young man and a French bartender at the Carmen Marc Valvo lunch held in a backstage VIP lounge:
Guest: I’ll have a glass of the voov.
Bartender: What?
Guest: The voov. I don’t know. You’re French — how do you pronounce it?
Bartender: I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Guest: The Champagne. I’d like a glass of Champagne.
[Bartender pours a glass.]
Guest: How do you say it?
Bartender: [Examines a bottle of Veuve Clicquot.] Vuv.
Guest: Right. Voov.
Just a thought: Shouldn’t there be a phonetics handbook for fashion newbies? Don’t we have a responsibility to educate the masses on the vernacular, from booze to shoes? Honestly, some people just don’t know any better, and for those types, Proenza Schouler can be downright rough. —Amy Odell
