Virgil Abloh to replace Kim Jones as artistic director of menswear at Louis Vuitton

This morning (26 March), it was officially announced that Virgil Abloh will succeed Kim Jones as Louis Vuitton’s artistic director of menswear. The announcement follows a host of rumours, which have been circulating for months, consolidated by last week’s announcement that Belgian designer Kris Van Assche would be leaving Dior Homme after 11 years, with Kim Jones taking up the helm.

Abloh is the founder of Haute streetwear brand, Off-White and a long-time collaborator of Kayne West. In a move that sees him shedding that image for one of the oldest and most powerful European houses in luxury fashion, Abloh will also become Louis Vuitton’s first African American artistic director.

“I feel elated,” he stated in a conversation with the New York Times, adding that he planned to relocate his family to Paris to take the job. “This opportunity to think through what the next chapter of design and luxury will mean at a brand that represents the pinnacle of luxury was always a goal in my wildest dreams. And 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.”