Lenny Kravitz Trades Nude Photo For Giant Scarf Callback In TikTok Debut

Lenny Kravitz knows what his fans want to see. The 56-year-old musician and actor launched countless image searches in 2015, when his pants split during a concert performance in Sweden, and when he posted a nude photo to his Instagram account this January, headlines swiftly followed. But for his latest viral moment—and his introduction to TikTok—Kravitz is shrouded from head to toe. 

Those who worry that the star has taken a vow of modesty can relax. Kravitz’s first TikTok, which was posted on Saturday, is captioned “It’s the first day of fall,” a reference to that day’s autumnal equinox. In the five-second video, Kravitz strides across the screen in boots, jeans, a leather jacket, and a brown knit scarf the size of a couch throw. “Grab your big scarf,” he says. “It’s the first day of fall.”

The average TikTok user, who is reportedly between the ages of 16-24, might be scratching their heads at this, and not just because the temperature across much of the U.S. remains in the 70s (or higher), making a leather jacket—forget a giant scarf—an uncomfortable proposition. Youngsters gather round: Back in Ye Olde 2011, just a year after Instagram was born, Lenny Kravitz was photographed while walking down a New York City street in a scarf remarkably similar to the one in Saturday’s TikTok, and for some reason everyone lost their marbles.

Speaking with GQ in 2020, Kravitz admitted he was aware of the sensation the look caused. “It’s funny to see, especially on Halloween,” he said. “People either do the Lenny Kravitz look—the onstage look—or they do the scarf. And it’s funny, I saw some pictures yesterday of this little kid who did the whole thing perfectly down to the plastic bag coming from the grocery store.”

He also seemed aware that internet users had claimed the scarf for their own, manipulating images to enhance the inherent comedy of a man wearing a large scarf in public. “Okay, the scarf is big, but the internet has made the scarf enormous. You look at some of those [images] and it’s just like, ‘Okay guys, the scarf is three times bigger than it really is in this picture, but it was big and it was cold.’”

That “it was cold” explanation for the scarf is one Kravitz has been using for years, telling Jimmy Fallon in 2018, “I live in the Bahamas, I’m used to hot weather and I had to go to the store, I was buying some groceries and I thought I’d put on a little scarf to protect my throat, and that’s the scarf I had.”

“I had no idea that there would be paparazzi,” Kravitz said, “and that is now everything,” making his inaugural TikTok an arguable reclaiming of an experience and image many had forgotten. But with a Cadillac collab, namesake Dom Pérignon, Crate and Barrel collection, and spirits line, it’s probably wise to remind a new generation of social media users what he’s best known for in the 2000s: walking around in a really, really, really big scarf.