Scores of teenagers in bucket hats crowded the entrance to the Off-White fashion show on Thursday night in Paris, even though the man of the hour – designer Virgil Abloh – was not in attendance.

Two weeks ago Abloh – one of the hottest and most prolific names in fashion – cancelled all of his engagements, including the show, under doctor’s orders. “Ultimately, everything is fine,” he said at the time, “but the doctor told me ‘this pace that you’ve sort of pushed your body–to fly all these miles, do all these different projects–is not good for your health.’”

Though the exact nature of Abloh’s medical issue was not been specified, it’s no surprise that he is exhausted. As well as running Off-White, Abloh holds perhaps the most high pressure role in men’s fashion, overseeing menswear at Louis Vuitton.

Part of the reason Abloh is so in demand because his immediately recognisable, irony-drenched designs appeal to digital natives. Despite being loved by young people, however, at times the show felt rather mature in tone, and not just because a handful of the models were refreshingly grey-haired and grown up.

Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA

The show took place in a long, dark, smoke-filled chamber, with exposed pipes and cables overhead, deep in the bowels of the Pompidou Centre. The soundtrack was a 2018 interview with Dr Mae Jemison, the first black woman to travel in space.

It opened with clothes women could wear in the office: a simple cream shirt dress followed by a pair of expensive-looking cream wide-legged trousers with a ruched top. Dynasty-style power earrings appeared throughout. Later there was a skirt suit. Often the silhouette was very 90s: tight at the top and roomy at the bottom – a skin-tight vest, say, tucked into wide-legged leather trousers.

A funnel-necked camouflage top with matching trousers stood out but the showstoppers were ballgown-shaped dresses made of what looked like parachute material. They swept along the floor grandly while also giving the impression that the models – such as Bella Hadid, who wore a fuchsia version with pink-lensed sunglasses – were somewhat protected from the elements.

Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA

The key takeaway, however, was inspired by the show’s title – “meteor shower” – which manifested as holes in many of the clothes; big circles of fabric missing at the rib, or the thigh. “The fundamental concept is to illustrate a woman’s power,” said Abloh, in notes distributed after the show. “She can withstand a ‘meteor shower’ both metaphorically and physically speaking.”

Many of the models held a new bag design, the Meteor Shower Jitney, which was also riddled with holes. The perforated bag, the notes continued, “is a non-functioning object (though it comes with a usable pouch), and it challenges the bedrock understanding of what, exactly, a bag is. It instantaneously kicks dust into the proverbial atmosphere of categorical separation; whether carrier, sculpture, or decor item.”

‘Challenging the bedrock understanding of a bag is’. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA

Challenging the very nature of the object being sold is something a certain type of designer absolutely loves to do. And it’s also the kind of fashion joke that could prove digital native catnip.