If there's one thing that sends millennial Gossip Girl fans into a tailspin, it's knowing that the parents on HBO Max's revival are likely closer to their age than the teens wreaking social havoc. As one such fan, I've spent a considerable amount of my Gossip Girl 2.0. watch reviewing the parental figures and trying to see if I relate more to them than I do Audrey, Julien, and the rest of the scandal makers. Except, I found it a little hard to pay attention to all the parent drama, thanks solely to a fashion choice routinely made by Julien's dad Davis.

I noticed it in the pilot episode. Davis, an uber successful music producer, comes into Julien's glam room (because of course this influencer has a glam room) and tells her he's jetting off to Los Angeles for a meeting with Billie Eilish — an artist who I, personally, could have babysat for when she was a toddler. In the scene, Davis is wearing what I can only describe as the hat version of the "How do you do, fellow kids?" meme — a grey beanie that is... saying a lot.

Now, Davis does not look bad in the beanie, by any means. It's just, well — do parents wear beanies now? Is he wearing it so he has something to chat about with Finneas? Apparently not, because Davis, as it turns out, just loves a hat.

Later on in the series, Davis dons several hats. In the third episode, Davis is spotted by his daughter out at a club, where he is wearing a black beanie. Wearing a beanie to a club seems wildly ill advised, given that I've never attended a particularly well air-conditioned one, but a sweaty scalp is just a small price to pay for the hat enthusiast.

Later, while attending a play, he sports this black fedora. Typically, I would be very upset if I were sitting behind someone who refused to take off his hat during a performance, but this guy feels important enough not to bother, I guess.

Perhaps my favorite thing about this hat, however, is that upon arriving home, alone... Davis keeps the hat on. Note how he took off his jacket and presumably shoes, but that the hat is still squarely on his head.

Now the real question: What is the hat trying to tell us? Weirdly, it has nothing to do with Davis being insecure about balding. He isn't balding — smartly, he decides to forego a hat to a fancy event, and it's revealed that his hair is all there.

Maybe Davis' hats are a "thing" — a trademark of his style, like Ariana Grande's oversized hoodies. However, for a show as notorious for snarking on one's style as Gossip Girl is, you'd think the hat obsession would at least be noted. After all, Zoya got called out for her headband day one — someone say something about Davis' choice of accessory, too!

Images: HBO Max