A 15-year-old boy from France, Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux, is the protagonist of one of the most discussed images of the moment – the photo taken in front of the Louvre Museum on the day of the theft of the French crown jewels, which went viral on the Internet.
The photo, taken by the Associated Press, shows Pedro elegantly walking past a closed entrance of the museum, with police officers and an intervention vehicle in the background.
His fashion style - a three-piece suit and a hat - led social media users to nickname him "fedora man" and turn him into a mysterious character: a detective, an accomplice of thieves, or even an image generated by artificial intelligence.
"I didn't want to immediately say it was me. The photo had its mystery, it had to be left to last," Pedro told the French press, as cited by The Guardian.
The teenager lives with his parents and grandfather in Rambouillet, about 30 kilometers from Paris.
He explains that he had no connection to the incident: he had simply come to visit the museum with his family, unaware that the Louvre had been closed due to the theft. "We wanted to go in, but we didn't know there had been a theft. We asked the police why it was closed. A few seconds later, the photographer took the picture," he said.
When the image went viral, reaching millions of views and even appearing in the New York Times, Pedro was recognized by his relatives only after they realized that his mother was in the background of the photo.
The young man, a fan of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, admits that his fashion style inspired by the '40s is unusual for a teenager: "I like to be elegant. I go to school like this, but I only wear the hat on weekends or at museums."
His parents, both passionate about art, have always encouraged him to express himself through style and culture. "Art and museums are vibrant spaces. Life without art is not life," says his mother, Félicité Garzon Delvaux.
Although he became an international sensation overnight, Pedro takes it all with humor: "I'm waiting for someone to cast me in a movie, it would be funny," he joked.