Pop Quiz | Karl Lagerfeld, Caroline Issa, Toiletpaper, Black Milk

You can find the correct answer and detailed explanation for each question immediately following the question (simply highlight to read), along with all the answers at the end of the quiz. Good luck!

Question 1: As a child, Karl Lagerfeld wanted to become _____ when he grew up.

a. a fashion designer
b. an interior designer
c. a painter
d. a cartoon artist

Answer 1: Choice (d) is correct. "As a child I never played with [other] children. I did nothing else other than sketching and reading. I loved to sketch because at the beginning of my life, I wanted to become a cartoon artist," says Karl Lagerfeld. "I had discovered a famous cartoon magazine from the 1900s in the attic of my parents' house and the cartoons were very, very beautifully drawn."

Question 2: Who said, "Fashion respects the voice of experience"?

a. Tim Blanks
b. Caroline Issa
c. Karl Lagerfeld
d. Cathy Horyn

Answer 2: Choice (a) is correct. Be it subculture, high culture, queer culture, fashion culture, Internet culture or pop culture, Tim Blanks is versed in all, having lived his life gamely experiencing a wide range of cultural inputs. "There aren't a lot of people who have all these pictures in their heads from first-hand experience. Fashion respects the voice of experience."

Question 3: All of the following statements about Caroline Issa are true EXCEPT:

a. Caroline Issa worked as a management consultant upon graduating from college
b. Neiman Marcus was Caroline Issa's client
c. Caroline Issa invested her personal savings in Tank Magazine, becoming its publisher
d. Caroline Issa has styled for Ohne Titel and Tod's

Answer 3: Choice (b) is correct. When Caroline Issa was a management consultant, Nordstrom was her first client.

Question 4: A native Spaniard now working in France, designer Isaac Reina used to work for ____

a. Loewe and Zara
b. Mansur Gavriel and Valextra
c. Valextra and Loewe
d. Hermès and Maison Martin Margiela

Answer 4: Choice (d) is correct. Isaac Reina first worked at Hermès, where he was first assistant to menswear designer Véronique Nichanian for seven years, and then worked at Maison Martin Margiela as a freelancer.

Question 5: According to Fiona Diffenbacher of Parsons, the magic moment of the design process is ______.

a. the harmony of colours, silhouettes, and fabrications
b. the connection between product and consumer
c. the balance between conceptual and commercial elements
d. the editing process

Answer 5: Choice (b) is correct. "Ultimately, it's about creating desire," says Fiona Dieffenbacher of Parsons. "Whether it's a commercial or conceptual piece, it's about the connection between the product and consumer. That's the magic moment."

Question 6: Karl Lagerfeld credits his ____ for his immense levels of productivity.

a. zen-like detachment
b. devotion to his very organized daily schedule
c. early experiences at Balmain and Chloé
d. his parents

Answer 6: Choice (a) is correct. "You know, I don't ask myself too much how. I just do it," Karl Lagerfeld begins, underlining a philosophy of zen-like detachment. "There is a kind of thinking, but the less you think the more it becomes like a second habit. I'm a kind of machine in a way, but it doesn't really take me effort. "If you're not detached you mess everything up," he adds. "You have to be detached. When I do the shoes I don't think about anything else."

Question 7: What does Pierpaolo Ferrari of Toiletpaper want to design?

a. a couture collection
b. a new airline
c. a new way to display art at The Hermitage Museum
d. a new version of a NYC hot dog stand

Answer 7: Choice (b) is correct. Pierpaolo Ferrari's dream is to design a new airline from start to finish, including the planes, interiors, uniforms and communications.

Question 8: Tim Blanks began reviewing fashion shows from 2005 and would write his reviews from the perspective of ______.

a. what the designer wanted him to see
b. the designer's original inspiration
c. how the show came together, starting with the backstage
d. a non-fashion person

Answer 8: Choice (a) is correct. Tim Blanks recently shared, "What was immediately obvious to me was that I didn't know the terminology. I could only write about it the way that I responded to it, which was seeing what the designer wanted me to see. People would say, 'Did you go to the showroom?' and I would say 'No, why?' I am writing about what the designer wants me to see, what they show me of this collection, which seems truer."

Question 9: Black Milk attributes its growth to _____.

a. its Brisbane factory, manufacturing 2,000 pairs of tights per day
b. selfies from its community
c. creative product development
d. identifying an underserved market

Answer 9: Choice (b) is correct. Black Milk has been quick to encourage user-generated content about the brand, which it integrates into its marketing strategy and e-commerce platform. "Selfies, man, our business is built on selfies," said Cameron Parker, Black Milk's head of sales and marketing. "We saw all this content coming through and thought, what can we do with all of this? We need this on our website! This is what sells the gear, not our models."

Question 10: Who said, "The show is the parfum, the essence"?

a. Tim Blanks
b. Karl Lagerfeld
c. John Galliano
d. Christian Dior

Answer 10: Choice (c) is correct. Tim Blanks recently shared that [John] "Galliano always said 'The show is the parfum, the essence.' You could and can extemporise from that anything that needed to be said of the collection."

Answer Key: 1. (d) 2. (a) 3. (b) 4. (d) 5. (b) 6. (a) 7. (b) 8. (a) 9. (b) 10. (c)