Pharrell Williams's hat to go on show at the Newseum

The hat that sparked a social media sensation when worn by Pharrell Williams to the Grammy Awards earlier this year is now set to go on display at the Newseum, Washington DC.

Designed by Vivienne Westwood, the "Buffalo Hat" proved to be such a talking point that the singer later sold it on eBay, where it was snapped up by fast food chain Arby's for $44,100, with proceeds going to charity.

The restaurant brand drew attention to the similarities between the outsized headgear and its own logo at the time, tweeting "Hey @Pharrell, can we have our hat back?"

After being retweeted more than 80,000 times, Pharrell's good-natured Twitter reply -- "Y'all tryna start a roast beef?" -- helped the hat go viral, with the end result being that the hat garnered more media attention than most of the acts on stage.

Now the newsworthy accessory has been loaned to the Newseum, where it will go on show this week for a limited time.

Pharrell's hat will be on display in the Newseum's New York Times Great Hall of News from August 21 - October 26.