New faces in CIFF Village: Meet Bonnetje

This year, we welcomed a lot of new brands in CIFF Village – each bringing new designs and faces to the showroom community spanning 20,000 square meters on the first and second floor of Bella Center Copenhagen.

One of those are Bonnetje – a Copenhagen-based brand founded by Anna Myntekær and Yoko Maja Rahbek, specializing in cutting up old suits and reassembling the pieces into new silhouettes.

In November 2024, Bonnetje was enrolled to CPHFW NEWTALENT program and in January they will showcase on the official CPHFW show schedule for the third time.

Can you tell us a bit about your role at Bonnetje and the story behind the brand?

We founded Bonnetje together. We both come from creative backgrounds and studied together at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. Early on, we discovered a shared fascination for the suit, and it felt natural to use this as the foundation for our brand.

The name “Bonnetje” means “receipt” in Dutch and symbolizes the idea of reflecting on consumption, ownership, and the traces of history embedded in clothing.

Your way of working with defunct materials contributes to the growing movement for fashion against the current throwaway society. Can you tell us more about the process behind your designs?

We repurpose old menswear suits by cutting them apart and reconstructing them into new silhouettes. We often turn seams, pockets, and linings inside out to reveal the hidden details of the original tailoring, allowing each piece to carry its own history. We also play with gender and identity by creating feminine or “odd” shapes from classic masculine tailoring. To give the pieces a contemporary edge, we mix vintage tailoring with new deadstock materials.

This season you were on CPHFW show schedule, and you were also chosen as a part of CPHFW NEWTALENT – as one two NEWTALENT brands. What did this mean to Bonnetje?

It has been great for us to be selected for the Copenhagen Fashion Week NewTalent programme. The support from NewTalent offered us not only visibility but also mentoring, financial assistance, and guidance in growing.

How do you use the space here in CIFF Village – office, showroom or both?

We use it as an office and workspace. We make most of our samples, and showpieces in house. It also benefits us a lot that there's other young brands, which makes it more than a workspace but a physical space to connect with other emerging designers and exchange experiences. So, we’re happy that CIFF and CPHFW have given newcomers to the NEWTALENT scheme the possibility to have a workspace here.

These days it is all about community – how is the communal feeling between you and the other brands in CIFF Village?

There is a strong sense of community because several of the other NEWTALENT and NEWTALENT Alumni brands are also in an early, formative stage. We can relate to one another’s challenges: production, sustainability, commercial growth, and more.

Are there any future projects that you want to share with us?

Yes, we’re of course working on something exciting for CPHFW in January 2026.