Lenny Kravitz’s giant blanket scarf meme on TikTok, explained

It’s getting dark a little too early and there’s a chill in the air; you know what that means — it’s time to crack out the winter wardrobe. If you’re singer-songwriter Lenny Kravitz, that involves a beanie, sunglasses, and a comically oversized scarf.

What is the Lenny Kravitz scarf?

That’s right, when it comes to scarves, size really does matter, as proven by the “Fly Away” singer. The image originates from over a decade ago and it shows Kravitz walking down a street in New York City, wearing a scarf that looks at least three times too large for a normal human to wear.

The image, snapped by the paparazzi, quickly made the rounds on the internet back in 2012 and became a meme. People poked fun at how overly prepared Kravitz was for the winter seasons and others made Photoshop edits to make the attire even bigger. 

According to the singer, his reason for wearing it was simply that it was cold. Speaking with Jimmy Fallon in 2018, Kravitz joked “I cannot escape this” in reference to the wave of memes that had been spawned by the pic.

Further explaining his fashion choice he justified wearing the scarf, telling Fallon, “I live in the Bahamas. I’m used to hot weather. […] And I thought I’d put on a little scarf to protect my throat and that’s the scarf I had.” To which Fallon replied, “But Lenny, this is not a scarf, this is a blanket.”

So why is the meme coming back now?

Some memes are eternal, with a few becoming part of an annual tradition. Fall is here and so the Lenny Kravitz scarf memes have returned. However, the main reason for the meme’s revival also has a lot to do with the man himself bringing it back into the spotlight.

If you haven’t heard, TikTok, and his first contribution to the massive content-sharing platform is to share a video of himself donning the iconic scarf once more as he walks towards the camera telling you to “grab your big scarf, it’s the first day of fall.”

Yes, it turns out that after all this time, the singer still has his giant blanket scarf and he’s more than prepared for the cold this year. Even better is the fact that he’s owning the look this time as he seems proud of his impressive scarf.

The revival of the meme has exposed an entirely new generation to Kravitz’s most prized fall accessory. However, I have to it, after seeing all of the photoshopped versions making the scarf even bigger, it almost looks normal-sized now.