Louis Vuitton tapping Virgil Abloh as artistic director of men’s wear is significant on several levels.

The CFDA member, who succeeds Kim Jones, arrives with much buzz. His Off-White label merges haute fashion, streetwear, design, and art (sometimes with collaborations that add hype to his distinct brand of cool). Abloh, who started his career at Fendi and became Creative Director for Kanye West in 2010, also has a multi-generational demographic, ranging from kids who vie for his T-Shirts and high-tops – let’s call them hypebeasts – to women and men who may favor his more tailored aesthetic.

The hire further fuels the sense of excitement in men’s, which has been driven by recent appointments such as Kim Jones at Dior Homme, Riccardo Tisci at Burberry, and Hedi Slimane at Celine, who is taking the venerable French brand into men’s  for the first time.

With today’s news, Abloh, who is nominated for CFDA’s 2018 Womenswear and Menswear Designer of the Year awards, also becomes the only American designer currently at the creative helm of a major European fashion house. Abloh joins a small but significant list of American names who held top design jobs in the past. There’s Tom Ford, who turned around Gucci’s fortunes and designed Yves Saint Laurent before launching his own namesake brand. And Marc Jacobs, who was Louis Vuitton’s creative director for 16 years and transformed the once-dusty luxury leather goods house into a fashion force. Elsewhere at LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors spent seven years at Celine, and Narciso Rodriguez was at Loewe from 1997 to 2001. Alexander Wang had a three-year stint at Kering’s Balenciaga, and Jason Wu recently finished his run at Hugo Boss. And we can’t forget Oscar de la Renta, who led Balmain from 1993 to 2002.

Abloh’s hire also makes a different kind of statement. He is Vuitton’s first African-American artistic director, and, as the New York Times pointed out in today’s story, “one of the few black designers at the top of a French heritage house.” Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing is the only other black designer I can think of at this time. As an industry, we clearly still have a long path towards diversity and inclusion, but Abloh at Vuitton is a good move. As he told the New York Times, “To show a younger generation that there is no one way anyone in this kind of position has to look is a fantastically modern spirit in which to start.”