Written by Molly Bloomfield

9:30 A.M. October 19, 2025. Four thieves, dressed as construction workers, steal eight valuable pieces of jewelry from the world’s most famous museum. They escape on electric scooters, and suspects aren’t found until three days later. The museum staff and public are baffled– how was this crime executed in broad daylight? How did they escape? What will happen to the jewels stolen?

But social media poses a different question. Isn’t robbing a famous museum… kind of chic?

Overnight, the robbery is coined as ‘The Louvre Heist’ and broadly dissected on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. Posts start to pop up in which users show viewers what they would wear if they were the robbers. Users crave the allure of a high-stakes crime, and through social media, romanticize the crime through fashion.

“Part of it, for me, is nostalgia. The heist is so popular because it reminds people of simpler times,” says Vault member Bailey Young. In times ridden with AI scams and violent crime, there’s something nice about a good old heist, complete with a ladder and a sneaky escape. The simplicity of the crime is part of its appeal: there’s no insane master plan, just a classic break-in. It calls back to more elaborate, popularized heists in pop culture and sparks conversation about fashion and glamour of the past. Simply put: it’s chic.

The first intersection of fashion and the Louvre heist comes from the vests the criminals wore. The simple choice to disguise themselves as construction workers enabled the robbers to avoid suspicion and get away in plain daylight. By using fashion as an element of disguise, they were able to evade suspicion. While the neon vests certainly aren’t glamorous, they served their purpose and helped the robbers escape with the jewels. Soon after, users on TikTok began to post Louvre heist Halloween costume inspo, which includes bright construction vests, sunglasses, all-black outfits, and most importantly, statement jewelry. Such costumes poke fun at the heist while deriving fashion inspiration from it at the same time.

But neon construction vests are simply not the epitome of heist fashion. Online, users get more creative, jokingly devising glamorous outfits that they would wear to rob the Louvre. From Chanel boots to Artizia leather trenchcoats, the possibilities were endless. “If I were to rob the Louvre, hypothetically of course, I’d do it Ocean’s 11 style and wear a fancy dress”, says Vault member Hayden Hansen. Classic heist movies such as “Ocean’s 8”, “Ocean’s 11”, and “The Pink Panther” provide inspiration for outfits, as well as songs such as “The Louvre” by Lorde. Social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram provide a space for these creative conversations, and play a pivotal role in popularizing the high-stakes crime through the lenses of pop culture and fashion.

An image went viral recently of a well-dressed man, thought to be the investigator of the case, standing outside the Louvre. The man is in full classic inspector garb, with a slightly tilted fedora and a sharp tie and coat: peak fashion, peak chic. Commenters made connections between this fashionable man to classic detectives and inspectors of the past, such as Inspector Clouseau and Sherlock Holmes. The identity of the man remains a mystery, as well as whether he is even an investigator, but his fashion choices were enough to propel him into the forefront of the Louvre heist conversations.

The stolen jewels themselves are a fashion statement: two necklaces, two pairs of earrings, two tiaras, two brooches, and a crown (dropped in the escape). Together, they are valued at around €88 million and contain thousands of diamonds and gemstones. The jewels are all from 19th century French rulers, and are undeniably high fashion.

From the inconspicuous construction worker attire to the imagined glamorous outfits to the dapper detective to the royal jewelry, the Louvre Heist is surrounded by fashion. Although suspects have been caught, and part of the mystery is solved, the heist will forever be iconic and chic.

Edited by Sophie Radbill and Galilea Matus

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Louvre_robbery

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg7nrlkg0zxo

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/25/nx-s1-5585741/louvre-heist-paris-memes

tiktok.com