Khaberni - Days after silence and controversy regarding the identity of the teenage boy who appeared in front of the Louvre Museum concurrently with the theft that became a global sensation, the boy Pedro Elias Garzon Delpho (15 years old), broke his silence revealing many backstage details.
The stylish young man, wearing a fedora and a three-piece suit, was not a secret agent, nor a character from a classic noir film, but lives with his parents and his grandfather in the Rambouillet suburb west of Paris.
The story's beginning
When the image spread like lightning on social media, achieving millions of views within days, Pedro watched silently, and with a shy smile said: "I didn't want to immediately declare that I was the owner of it, the picture had a certain mystery, and I wanted it to stay that way," according to his conversation with the Associated Press.
A coincidence that created a legend
On the day of the theft, Pedro was with his mother and grandfather on their way to visit the Louvre Museum, unaware that the place was closed due to the exciting theft, where they approached the gate to ask the police officers, and at that moment, Associated Press photographer Thibault Camus captured the famous picture.
Pedro says: "I was just passing by, I didn't know someone took a picture of me."
Days later, Pedro received a message from a friend saying: "Is this you?" starting the surprise, as his picture was featured on the front pages of the "New York Times," and spread in newspapers and websites around the world.
What captivated millions in that picture was not just the situation, but the style: a suit in three pieces, a stylish tie, an old Russian watch that had been restored, and an Yves Saint Laurent coat borrowed from his father, and a "slightly tilted Fedora" in tribute to French resistance hero Jean Moulin.
A love for elegance
Pedro says with quiet pride: "I love to be elegant, I go to school like this."
Among his classmates who wear baggy shirts and sports shoes, he seems as if he is from another time.
Pedro laughed, saying: "This week one of my friends wore a tie, perhaps the picture inspired him."
A small cultural icon
The boy with the hat turned into a small cultural icon, and millions of people around the world reposted the picture, naming it "the Fedora Man," considering it as an embodiment of a blend of classicism, modernity, and mystery.
While some thought it was a promotional campaign for a movie or a staged scene, Pedro was living an entirely normal day, not realizing that he was one step away from fame.
His mother, Felicite Garzon Delpho, who is a museum curator's daughter and an artist, says: "Art is a way of life for us, museums are not silent places, but lively spaces."
For Pedro, the picture was not just a coincidental moment, but a reflection of his love for art, history, and detective fiction, as he concludes his conversation saying: "I am not an actor nor a detective, I just love elegance, I will continue with this style, because, simply.. it is my style."
