What does Jonny Johansson know about office dress codes? By his own admission, the Acne Studios creative director wears jeans and a T-shirt most days, so no Casual Fridays for him.

But he does know something about yearning to blend in. When he moved from Stockholm to the north of Sweden in his youth, Johansson felt like an outsider — and was acutely self-conscious about his mother’s purple Volkswagen Beetle car.

“I told her not to go too close to the school when she dropped me off. Trying to fit in [and] studying people is why I think I do what I do,” he said.

His spring collection was an exploration of archetypes, based on imaginary office denizens like Golfer Billy, the sporty character who likes dressing in sorbet colors, and the resident creative, whose doodling inspired a T-shirt printed with a hand-drawn pocket and tie.

The designer imagined them all quietly sizing each other up. “It’s this tension between and jealousy between men that I built on,” he said.

While corporate environments have their own hierarchies, Johansson made no distinction between preppy classics like argyle sweaters and navy blazers, and rockabilly staples such as cuffed jeans trimmed with silver studs, biker jackets and the exaggerated winkle picker shoes that have become an Acne signature.

The brand has seen a surge in demand for skinny jeans, which appear to be making a comeback, so he offered slimmer cuts of its trademark 1996 and 1979 styles, alongside a chino-style jean with front pleats.

And for those making contingency plans for future heat waves, as temperatures in Paris hit 106 degrees Fahrenheit, he offered a variety of short shorts in materials ranging from shredded denim to Madras check cotton and black leather. Wearing those to the office may well be the last taboo, but as Johansson declared: “Taboos are made to be broken.”