1. fashion
   suffrage
2. feminism

Chanel became an icon in the world of women's fashion. She upended many fashion stereotypes and charted a new course for clothing.

1. true
2. false

"Coco" was just a nickname that stuck. Her given name was Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel.

1. France
   Italy
2. England

She was born into a poor family in France and wound up in a convent. It's safe to say that she was never meant for a quiet, religious life.

1. she was kicked out of the house
   her parents disappeared
2. her mother died

When Chanel was 12, her mother died and her father wanted nothing to do with raising a bunch of kids alone. She was sent to an orphanage.

1. banking
   prostitution
2. cabaret singer

Chanel wanted more than a simple religious life at a convent. She headed to the town of Moulins and became a cabaret singer for a short time.

1. beadwork
   sewing
2. drinking

Her time at the convent taught her some self-discipline … and also how to sew. Her sewing skills, of course, came in very handy later in her life.

1. terrible
   average
2. amazing

She was young and cute … but she had a very average voice. Eventually, she realized that she was never going to make it as a singer, so she moved on to other goals.

1. she took up law
   she opened a clothing boutique
2. she became a mistress

She became a mistress for a wealthy textile heir named Etienne Balsan. Balsan introduced her to the finer things in life and Chanel became accustomed to hanging out with wealthy, powerful people.

1. her lover died
   she got married to her lover
2. she took up with another man

She took up with Arthur Capel, who was a friend of Etienne Balsan. The two men competed for Chanel's affections.

1. a hat maker
   a dress maker
2. a shoe maker

Chanel began making hats for fun, but the hobby blossomed into a real business. She became a licensed milliner, or hat maker, and began hawking her products in 1910.

1. true
2. false

Chanel was hoping that eventually, Capel would want to marry her. But as it turns out, the mistress lifestyle doesn't work that way. Capel died in a car accident in 1919 and Chanel was never really the same.

1. a huge department store agreed to carry her hats
   an actress wore a Chanel hat
2. Balsan gave her a million dollars

An actress named Gabrielle Dorziat wore one of Chanel's hats as part of a play. The exposure helped give Chanel credibility in the fashion world.

1. he paid for a retail location
   he bought her a factory
2. he paid for a national marketing campaign

Capel helped Chanel by paying for a store where she could sell her fashion products. Located in a ritzy part of town, the shop soon found success.

1. buy a whole building
   travel the world
2. build a factory

She reinvested her profits in a building in the middle of Paris. The expansion helped to grow her business by leaps and bounds.

1. Cliff Edwards
   Igor Stravinksy
2. Mistinguett

She met the famous composer Igor Stravinsky, who'd left the U.S.S.R. following World War I. Chanel let his family stay in one of her houses, and she began designing costumes for some of his productions.

1. she was a rebel
   passive aggressive
2. actually pretty reserved

Coco was no wilting flower. She was a rebel with a quick wit and enduring sense of sarcasm.

1. silk
   jersey
2. denim

She began using a type of jersey fabric, which was used mostly for underwear and eschewed by most fashion designers. Chanel's decision to use jersey helped her stand out in a crowded field.

1. Victorian influences
   sex
2. comfort

Many of her designs cast off restrictive influences and materials and emphasized comfort and simple visual appeal. The idea caught on in a hurry.

1. white
   black
2. pink

She became renowned for the famous "little black dress" concept. Her simple but flattering black dresses ignited a revolution that's still active today.

1. heroin
   morphine
2. marijuana

Chanel had a weakness for morphine. She took to injecting the drug and the habit stuck with her for much of her life.

1. she made perms fashionable
   she made long hair fashionable
2. she made short hair fashionable

She arrived at an opera house with very short and boyish hair. Ever the trendsetter, the style caught on, meaning long hair was no longer the required look for women.

1. Chanel No. 1
   Chanel No. 7
2. Chanel No. 5

Coco's Chanel No. 5 became -- and still is -- one of the world's best-selling fragrances. She picked "5" because she figured it was her lucky number.

1. ankles
   breasts
2. navel

She wasn't exactly obsessed with nudity or anything … but her dresses revealed women's ankles, which had for many years been hidden under long Victorian clothing.

1. she hated jewelry in general
   she loved it
2. she despised it

Even though her rich lovers gave her many real gems, Coco often enjoyed the concept of costume jewelry. When she created jewelry, her designs sometimes used both real and fake gems.

1. had almost no marketing campaign
   first fragrance to be named after its creator
2. contained horse semen

Chanel got bolder with her successes. She named the perfume after herself. It was the first fragrance ever named after its creator.

1. started an affair with a Nazi officer
   fled the country
2. bought two more buildings and expanded

Her life took a dark turn when she started an affair with a Nazi officer, and she closed her shop. She's even been accused of spying for the Germans.

1. true
2. false

Not only did she take up with a Nazi officer, Chanel was onboard with the Germans' anti-Jew message. She eventually met and dined with some of the most notorious Nazi leaders, such as Joseph Goebbels.

1. lauded as a hero
   was deported
2. was arrested

Allied forces arrested the traitorous Chanel for her dalliances with Nazis. In retrospect, some historians believe that Chanel may actually have been working behind the scenes to undermine the Nazis, but no one is entirely sure of this.

1. natural causes
   car accident
2. factory fire

In 1971 Chanel returned to her home at the Hotel Ritz, went to bed and then died of natural causes. She was buried in Switzerland.

1. "You see, this is how you die."
   "Fetch me my jewels."
2. "Tell them that black will be the next big thing."

At the end of her long and full life, Chanel was ready to go. "You see, this is how you die."