Fashion loves a transition, from underdog to top dog, flop to overnight sensation (and then straight back to flop again). We’ll even spend weeks fantasising about the next moves of a missing-in-action superstar. But there’s no transition we love more than reliving the throes of our formative years, our rose-tinted coming of age.

It’s exactly this spirit Nicolas Ghesquiere has tapped into for his FW22 show, opened by Jung Ho-Yeon – the breakout star of Netflix’s Squid Game and a global ambassador for the brand as of last October. Her trousers were jaunty in grey pinstripes, secured either side by two thick pearls in absence of a waistband. A jacket in thick brown leather and contrast-stitching accompanied her creamy shirt and oh-so-Robin-Williams floral necktie, a uniform that bridges the world of traditional formal wear with that of the sloppy student, still tipsy from the night before.

Wading deep into the archive of David Sims, whose images formed the template of Ghesquiere’s own departure from adolescence in the 90s, the designer lifted stills of stone-faced models to form a repeat print under low slung camisoles, their singular crepe trims melting into bright prints. There’s an overwhelming sense of nonchalance in these baggy forms – be they giant rugby shirts or knitted-scarf panniers – and unfurling layers of woollen pullovers and waist-tied sweatshirts: pieces almost fall off the body, and, in the same breath, embrace the structured and overtly sexual oeuvere of mock-leather jockstraps, worn atop brown corduroys.

Every choice is purposeful, even in Ghesquiere’s glitter-clad tweed dresses and their large, tubing side pockets, not too dissimilar to an art teacher’s apron, because the teacher is a part of this puzzle too. The archetypal link between the innocence of youth and that vivid, romantic and idealistic future Ghesquiere so lustfully pines for, still, in his flowing gowns and elegant, wide-legs.