On shows like “What Not to Wear,” and other clothing/design-themed shows, the hosts/designers pronounce it “ahmpeer,” which sounds completely pretentious and even wrong to me. What’s the deal?
They are trying to make it sound French. “Empire” as a mode of fashion is named after the French empire under Napoleon I.
And if this source is correct, the term “empire waist” to designate this sort of just-under-the-boobs waistline originated in early 20th-century England. So there is really no reason at all to pronounce it “ahmpeer” unless you happen to be having a conversation about fashion with French people in French.
We will charitably assume that all of them are of French origin and accidentally slip back into their native pronunciation even when using an English fashion term while speaking English.
Otherwise we might have to infer that they’re just ill-informed pretentious snobs, and heaven knows we would hate to think any such thing about fashion show hosts.
It is true that the furniture style called “Empire” is often pronounced “ahmPEER.” So maybe these cats are operating by analogy.
I’ve never heard it pronounced any other way besides “ahmpeer”, and I don’t travel in particularly hoity toity circles.
Now, can someone tell me how “Rhys” is pronounced, specifically in the case of Mr. Jonathan Meyers?
Well, anecdote for anecdote, I’ve only heard the English pronunciation for “empire” for that dress style.
Fair enough. I only meant that I honestly didn’t know it was considered pretentious or even out of the ordinary to pronounce it the fancy frenchy way:)
They’re twits. That’s all.
It’s pronounced Reese (as in Reese’s Pieces).
Thank you. And thank you, Saintly Loser. I haven’t been called a twit in some time 
I call it “Hey, that dress makes you look pregnant.”
At least they pronounce the R, unlike pretentious folks who leave off the final R in armoire as if that’s how the French would say it. :smack:
There’s a distinct phenomenon in English of “frenchifying” the pronunciation of words which are either borrowed from French, or have French associations - <i>Empire</i> in the fashion sense, <i>garage</i>, <i>envelope</i>, etc. These can be pronounced either according to common conventions (as it were, garridge, ennvelope) or with a pronunciation with a more-or-less accurate nod in the direction of a French pronunciation (garaazh, onvelope).
It may be my imagination, but I do have the impression that US speakers are somewhat more prone to use “frenchified” pronunciation than are other speakers of English.
The empire waist was very popular back in the late 60s, and I always heard it as “ahm-PEER.”
And we have a winner!
I don’t think it’s your imagination at all. I’ve been telling my (English) boyfriend for years that the reason he “mispronounces” words like “garage” and “massage” and “herb” is because he’s afraid of catching teh french if he says them correctly.
Thank you. Stacy, you are so right about many things, but there are damned few women who can wear that style without looking pregnant.