The History Of Lenny Kravitz's Giant Scarf: The Seasonal Fall Meme Explained

Over the weekend, singer Lenny Kravitz posted his first TikTok. "Grab your big scarf. It's the first day of fall," he said. In the TikTok, he was wearing a big scarf.

If you were not acquainted with meme culture in the mid-2010s, it might be surprising to learn that for certain people, this was a pretty funny video. Allow us to catch you up on the lore behind Lenny Kravitz's giant scarf.

What's The Big Deal About Lenny Kravitz's Big Scarf?

Try to recall the halcyon meme culture days of the early-mid 2010s: a time when a funny picture didn't just trend on Twitter for a few hours but actively lasted on the internet for weeks, months, and in the case of this meme, years.

In November 2012, Lenny Kravitz was photographed by paparazzi wearing a very big scarf. It looks quite cozy, more of a blanket than a traditional scarf.

This image may not spark fits of laughter in you today, but in 2012 it was one of the funniest things on the internet. A gimmick account devoted to reposting the scarf every day appeared in the days after Kravitz's scarf photo was first published online. In 2014, two years after the scarf first hit the internet, photoshops of the scarf became a popular meme.

Since then, the scarf has been reposted at the onset of fall, sort of like how the sound of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" heralds the start of the Christmas season.

Why Was The Scarf So Dang Big?

Kravitz explained this in 2018 (again, six years after he wore a big scarf one time). Jimmy Fallon asked Kravitz about the scarf on an episode of The Tonight Show, and the singer explained that the massive scarf was simply a gift, and he wore it out one time to get groceries, where he was spotted by the paparazzi.

Remarkably, the scarf remained in Kravitz's closet for eleven years, allowing him to debut on TikTok by referencing one of his iconic memes (and, thankfully, not the other one).

For more information, check out Lenny Kravitz's giant scarf on Know Your Meme.