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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 05: Zendaya attends the 2025 Met Gala Celebrating \"Superfine: Tailoring Black Style\" at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 05, 2025 in New York City.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 05: Zendaya attends the 2025 Met Gala Celebrating \"Superfine: Tailoring Black Style\" at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 05, 2025 in New York City.
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Culture > Entertainment

Here’s Why The Internet Is Scared Of Zendaya’s Hat

Zendaya has everyone talking about her 2025 Met Gala look, but not for the reason you’d think. ICYMI, the Met Gala legend stole the show in a head-to-toe white three-piece suit designed by Pharrell Williams for Louis Vuitton, complete with a floppy hat. And, according to the internet’s “Zendaya Hat Theory,” there was more under the accessory than a slick-back bun.

If you’re employed and have no clue what the Zendaya Hat Theory is, allow me to explain. Way back in 2014, Zendaya attended the Teen Vogue Young Hollywood Party in a (comically large) Emporio Armani hat. The looks went viral, spawning thousands of light-hearted internet memes, which then spiraled into “conspiracy theories” about what was underneath that big ass hat. Over a decade later, netizens still reference the 2014 look, joking that the hat was evil, trying to “eat” Zendaya (?), or even a way for her to sneak Tom Holland onto the carpet with her in secret. I can’t disprove that last one.

The Zendaya Hat Theory is all in good fun, though. In a 2024 interview with Vogue, Zendaya acknowledged the lore behind the look, saying, “I still see memes about this look with my hat. I stick by it. We thought it was chic at the time, and I think it’s still chic. I’d wear it again.”

And wear it again, she did! Zendaya’s (much smaller, but still kind of big) hat fit the 2025 Met Gala theme, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” perfectly. Not only that, but it inspired the internet to resurface the Zendaya Hat Theory all over again.

I just hope Tom had fun at the 2025 Met Gala, too (inside of that hat).

Julianna Marie
Julianna Marie is the Wellness Editor at Her Campus — leading the site's coverage of health, wellness, sex, relationships, and mental health. Additionally, she oversees our College Try franchise, the LGBTQIA+ vertical (Free To Be) and occasionally covers astrology, entertainment, fashion and beauty, and internet culture.

Julianna's work as a screenwriter and filmmaker has also received recognition at major film festivals such as LA Shorts, Tokyo International Film Festival, the NYC Horror Film Festival, and more. Currently, she is in the process of writing her debut novel.

She graduated with a B.F.A in Screenwriting from Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in May 2022, where she formed very strong opinions on movies and a love for the beach. (She's a Pisces.)

When she's not writing burning hot takes and writing about her personal life for the masses (sorry, mom), you can find Julianna cooking, going out with the girls, doing yoga the morning after going out with the girls, watching reality television with her fiancé, playing chess, or advocating for the food scene in Pittsburgh, PA. It really is that good, BTW.

If you like blurry Instagram Stories and food reviews, you can follow her on Instagram at @juliannammarie.