Who founded the fashion house Chanel?
Answer : Coco Chanel
Gabrielle, known as Coco, Chanel opened her first hat shop in Paris in 1910 and later made the tweed suit and the little black dress fashion staples.
Questions and answers: Fashion & Design
Revise Fashion & Design: here is a selection of questions of every level, with the answer and an explanation. To test yourself without seeing the answers, play the quizzes.
Play the Fashion & Design quizzesVery easy
Which Italian city is a world fashion capital, famous for its Fashion Week?
Answer : Milan
Milan hosts its Fashion Week twice a year and, together with Paris, London and New York, forms the Big Four of the world's fashion capitals.
Which fabric is traditionally used to make jeans?
Answer : Denim
The word denim comes from 'serge de Nîmes'; this sturdy cotton twill was popularized by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis, who patented riveted work pants in 1873.
Which brand has a crocodile as its emblem?
Answer : Lacoste
Tennis star René Lacoste, nicknamed 'the Crocodile' by the press, founded his brand in 1933 and embroidered the animal on his cotton piqué polo shirt.
Which brand is recognizable by its 'swoosh' logo?
Answer : Nike
Student Carolyn Davidson drew this logo in 1971 for just 35 dollars; it evokes the wing of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory who gave the brand its name.
Which luxury brand is famous for bags with the 'LV' monogram?
Answer : Louis Vuitton
The LV monogram was created in 1896 by Georges Vuitton as a tribute to his father Louis, who had founded the house in 1854 as a trunk maker.
In which country was the furniture company IKEA founded?
Answer : Sweden
IKEA was founded in 1943 by a teenage Ingvar Kamprad in Småland; its name combines his initials with those of the Elmtaryd farm and the village of Agunnaryd.
Which Italian fashion house is known for its interlocking double 'G' logo?
Answer : Gucci
Founded in Florence in 1921 by Guccio Gucci, the house turned its own initials, two interlocked Gs, into a lasting symbol of Italian luxury.
Easy
In which year did Christian Dior present his 'New Look'?
Answer : 1947
Shown in February 1947, the New Look with its cinched waist and full skirt broke with wartime austerity; Harper's Bazaar editor Carmel Snow gave it its name.
Which designer launched the 'Mondrian' dress in 1965?
Answer : Yves Saint Laurent
This autumn 1965 dress borrowed the black-edged blocks of primary colour from Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, while keeping a very simple shift shape.
Which architect founded the Bauhaus school in 1919?
Answer : Walter Gropius
Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus in Weimar in 1919 by merging two schools, aiming to unite art, craft and industry in a single training.
Which brand has a horseback polo player as its emblem?
Answer : Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren launched his label in New York in 1967 under the name Polo; the mounted player embroidered on the chest became its emblem, not to be confused with Lacoste's crocodile.
Which British house is famous for its trench coat?
Answer : Burberry
Thomas Burberry invented gabardine in 1879; his trench coat, adopted by British officers in the First World War, became a lasting British classic.
Which Hermès bag is named after an actress and singer?
Answer : Birkin
The bag is said to come from a plane encounter around 1984 between actress and singer Jane Birkin and Jean-Louis Dumas, then head of Hermès.
In which country did the fashion house Prada originate?
Answer : Italy
Prada was founded in Milan in 1913 by Mario Prada, first as a luxury leather goods house, before expanding into ready-to-wear clothing.
Who designed the Lounge Chair and ottoman in 1956?
Answer : Charles and Ray Eames
Charles and Ray Eames designed this molded plywood and leather chair for Herman Miller as a modern take on the comfortable English club chair.
Medium
Which couturier dressed Audrey Hepburn in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'?
Answer : Hubert de Givenchy
Hubert de Givenchy created the little black dress Audrey Hepburn wore in that 1961 film; he remained her couturier and friend for decades.
Which architect designed the Barcelona chair presented in 1929?
Answer : Mies van der Rohe
This chrome-plated steel and leather chair was made for the German Pavilion at the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, which is how it got its name.
In which year was the perfume Chanel No. 5 launched?
Answer : 1921
According to legend, the number 5 comes from the fifth sample that perfumer Ernest Beaux presented to Coco Chanel, who chose it for this 1921 scent.
In which country was the couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga born?
Answer : Spain
Balenciaga was born in 1895 in Getaria, a Basque fishing town in Spain, and moved to Paris in 1937 because of the Spanish Civil War.
In which city is Antoni Gaudí's Casa Batlló located?
Answer : Barcelona
Remodelled by Gaudí between 1904 and 1906 on Passeig de Gràcia, this house is nicknamed the House of Bones for its skeletal balconies and columns.
What nationality was the designer Arne Jacobsen, creator of the Ant chair?
Answer : Danish
Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen drew the Ant chair in 1952 for the maker Fritz Hansen; it originally stood on only three legs.
Which designer popularized 'Le Smoking' tuxedo for women in 1966?
Answer : Yves Saint Laurent
In 1966 Yves Saint Laurent adapted the men's evening suit for women; Le Smoking first caused a stir before becoming a timeless classic.
Which Japanese designer founded the label Comme des Garçons?
Answer : Rei Kawakubo
Rei Kawakubo founded Comme des Garçons in Tokyo in 1969; her deconstructed, often black designs shook up fashion when she arrived in Paris in 1981.
Hard
Who is regarded as the father of haute couture, established in Paris from 1858?
Answer : Charles Frederick Worth
English-born Charles Frederick Worth opened his house on the rue de la Paix in 1858; he was the first to sign his creations and show them on live models.
Which French couturier helped free women from the corset in the 1900s-1910s?
Answer : Paul Poiret
Paul Poiret did away with the corset around 1906 using high-waisted dresses inspired by the Orient, and he also introduced harem trousers for women.
Which cutting technique is associated with Madeleine Vionnet?
Answer : The bias cut
Madeleine Vionnet cut fabric on the bias, diagonally to the grain, so her flowing dresses clung to the body; she was nicknamed the architect of couture.
In which German city was the Bauhaus building designed by Gropius inaugurated in 1926?
Answer : Dessau
The Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau in 1925; Gropius's modernist building, opened in 1926, has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1996.
Which painter inspired the name of Marcel Breuer's Wassily chair?
Answer : Wassily Kandinsky
Marcel Breuer designed this tubular steel chair in 1925, inspired by bicycle handlebars; it was named later in homage to Kandinsky, his Bauhaus colleague.
Which designer founded the Memphis Group in Milan in 1981?
Answer : Ettore Sottsass
Ettore Sottsass gathered young designers in Milan in 1981 around a colourful, provocative style; the name Memphis reportedly came from a Bob Dylan song played at the meeting.
Which technique characterizes Michael Thonet's chair No. 14?
Answer : Bentwood
Launched in 1859, this bistro chair has six pieces of steam-bent beech, ten screws and two nuts; it shipped flat-packed, which helped it sell worldwide.
Which Japanese designer is famous for the pleated line 'Pleats Please'?
Answer : Issey Miyake
Launched in 1993, the Pleats Please line pleats the garment after it is sewn, using heat; the pieces are light, crease-free and easy to pack for travel.
Expert
Which French designer worked with Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret on the LC4 chaise longue?
Answer : Charlotte Perriand
Charlotte Perriand joined Le Corbusier's studio in 1927 as a young graduate; the LC4, designed in 1928, has an adjustable seat resting on a fixed base.
Which Irish designer created the villa E-1027 on the French Riviera?
Answer : Eileen Gray
The villa's name is a code: E for Eileen, 10 for J, 2 for B and 7 for G, standing for Jean Badovici, for whom it was built, and Gray.
Who founded the fashion house Balmain in 1945?
Answer : Pierre Balmain
Pierre Balmain founded his house in Paris in 1945, after working for Edward Molyneux and then Lucien Lelong, where he had worked alongside Christian Dior.
To which art movement does Gerrit Rietveld's Red and Blue Chair belong?
Answer : De Stijl
Rietveld's chair, built from wooden slats and planes coloured red, blue and yellow, applies the principles of the Dutch De Stijl movement, founded in 1917.
Which Danish designer created the famous 'PH' lamps?
Answer : Poul Henningsen
Poul Henningsen designed his PH lamps in the 1920s with layered shades that hide the bulb and spread the light without glare.
Which Verner Panton chair is regarded as the first single-piece molded plastic chair?
Answer : The Panton Chair
Panton designed it in the late 1950s but it was only mass-produced in 1967: its S-shaped form is moulded in one piece from rigid plastic.
Which Finnish-born designer and architect designed the Tulip chair?
Answer : Eero Saarinen
Born in Finland in 1910, Eero Saarinen grew up in the United States; with his 1956 single-pedestal Tulip chair he wanted, he said, to clear up the clutter of legs under the table.
Which name of the Chanel quilted bag recalls its creation date in 1955?
Answer : 2.55
Created in February 1955, this bag introduced the chain strap that frees the hands and a burgundy lining; its name simply gives the month and year of creation.
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