Above the low din of chatter, a phone rings — brrr, brrr, over and over, as though left on an unoccupied desk.
It rings insistently, a trill so harsh and nagging you can practically picture the device it’s coming from. (A curly-corded rotary dial phone is what comes to my mind.) The venue makes this even easier to imagine — an abandoned office floor with gray curtains, low ceilings, and pale walls. In other words, it’s a spectacularly ordinary setting that Danish brand Bonnetje picked to showcase its fall-winter collection 2025 during Copenhagen Fashion Week. “We actually have our studio close by, also in an abandoned office,” co-founder Anna Myntekær tells me in a post-show interview. “I think for us, it makes sense because we get very inspired by what’s [around us].”
Brrr! Brrr! The phone rings more frequently and with more urgency. You almost can’t help but think and hope: Is anyone going to get that? The space between rings grows shorter the more we wait, now punctuated by staccato-like footsteps. The last few guests take their seats, the air filled with anticipation. Brrr! Brrr! Louder now, more erratic, and the clip-clop of heels more horsey.
Yellow lights cast a wide, steady beam across the runway that gets a little brighter right before the start of the show. Through an illuminated door, the first model appears, her steps slow, heavy, and methodical. Before the rest of her comes into sight, I notice her hair, piled and swirled skyward. She walks tigerishly in her suit — a delicately pinstriped blazer-and-skirt ensemble. Despite her put-togetherness, there’s a certain undone feeling about the whole look. Maybe it’s the exposed stitching that traces the curves of the waistline and the length of the skirt. Perhaps it’s the pen dangling from a silver bead chain looped around the model’s neck. Or the hair. Or everything.