The daylight robbery of the Louvre on Oct. 19, 2025, which resulted in jewels of the French Crown being stolen, immediately prompted police to arrive on the scene in Paris, France. According to the BBC, the four thieves had power tools at their disposal, which two of them used to cut through a window on the first floor after using a mechanical lift to reach it . They threatened the guards, making them evacuate, and were able to cut through the glass of two display cases. The thieves made their escape on two pre-positioned scooters, and made off with eight pieces of valuable jewelry. There has been an outcry in France over this heist, with French President Emmanuel Macron describing the robbery as “an attack on our history.” Jordan Bardella, the National Rally leader, said it was an “intolerable humiliation.”
The Guardian reports that as 15-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux walked by police officers who had blocked an entrance to the museum, he was in a photo taken by Associated Press photographer Thibault Camus. This photo gained the attention of users on the internet, and he was dubbed online as the “Fedora Man.” According to AP News, when he was in front of the AP cameras for an interview, he was dressed in the same outfit that he wore in the viral photo. The outfit consisted of a Yves Saint Laurent waistcoat, a jacket, tie, Tommy Hilfiger trousers, a Russian watch that has been battered in war, and a fedora hat, which Delvaux said was homage to Jean Moulin, a hero of the French Resistance.
As reported by The Guardian, Delvaux explained that along with his mother and grandfather, they went to visit the Louvre, saying “we wanted to go to the Louvre but it was closed,” adding that “we didn’t know there was a heist.” He continued that they had asked the guards why the gates had been closed. Just a few seconds later, he was captured in the photo taken by Camus. Delvaux said that he did not know that the picture was being taken, and that he was “just passing through.” Four days later, he received a message from an acquaintance that read “Is that you?” He was told that the photo had gained five million views.
According to NPR, his mother then called to let him know that he was shown in The New York Times. Cousins in Colombia, friends in Austria, and others called and talked with him after he went viral. CNN reports that while Delvaux cited Hercule Pirot, a fictional Belgian detective as an icon for style, he made it clear that he was not involved in any investigations of the heist. When he was asked if his style is appreciated by his friends at school, he replied by saying “Yeah, I think I have a lot of aura.”
Users on social media have reacted to his appearance in the photo. According to Yahoo Creators, one user on social media site TikTok said “He literally looks like a 1940s detective. He’s clearly been waiting for this his whole life. Give him a seven-book series and movie adaptation right now. I don’t even care if he can solve it or not—he has a fedora.” On social media site X, Melissa Chen, a tech executive based in London made a joke, saying that the case would “never be cracked by a detective who wears an actual fedora unironically.” NPR reports that after the photo went viral, theories began to circulate about him, ranging from whether he was an actual detective to if he was generated by artificial intelligence.
While the mystery of who the “Fedora Man” is has been solved, and he has stated that he is not part of the investigation, the search for the stolen jewels and the culprits behind this heist still remains a daunting task.
