- Taylor Curl was first introduced to One Direction in 2011 through a friend
- From there, the Central Texas local, 24, went on a deep dive of the British boy band, who formed in London in 2010, and featured Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson
- On Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014, Curl finally got to see the band perform live on their Where We Are Tour at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas
- During the show, Styles threw his sweat towel at Curl. Since then, she’s kept it safe in her room
- Recently, she took to TikTok to share the story. The video went viral, amassing more than 460,000 views and 500 comments
Taylor Curl first heard of One Direction in 2011 from a friend — and right away she was hooked.
From there, the Central Texas local, 24, went on a deep dive of the British boy band, who formed in London in 2010 and featured Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. She spent hours upon hours Googling their full X Factor journey, watching interviews and of course, viewing classic funny moment compilation videos.
“They stood out to me because they genuinely seemed like real, normal people who were just living out their dreams together,” Curl tells PEOPLE exclusively. “From the beginning of their career, it was always obvious that they cared about their fans and that always felt really special.”
“I’ve always struggled to pick just one favorite member, they all hold a special place in my heart,’ she adds. “My favorite One Direction song of all time would have to be either ‘Fireproof’ or ‘Right Now.’ ”
Taylor Curl
On Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014, Curl finally got to see the band perform live at their Where We Are Tour stop at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, with her family. She says they were sitting in the front row and throughout the show, Styles, 31, waved at them a few times, making their concert experience a “dream.”
Then, something amazing happened. During the last song of the night, “Best Song Ever,” Curl says Styles went and picked up a towel and walked right over to her. “He threw it directly at me and my sister, and we were both freaking out, along with our parents,” Curl says. “It seemed like he really wanted to make sure we enjoyed the show, which we for sure did.”
“It felt so surreal once it sunk in that it had actually happened,” the college student adds. “It may seem so silly to some people, but even something as small as a towel can hold sentimental value.”
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Taylor Curl
Directly after the concert, Curl put the towel in a bag to keep it safe. A few years later, she decided she wanted to have it on display in her room, so she had it hanging over the shoulder of a cardboard cutout she had of Styles at the time. Eventually, she moved homes and decided she would store it away safely again in fear that something might happen to it.
Currently she keeps the towel in a bin with all of her other merch. “I’d like to keep it protected and in good condition,” she says. “I’d have to say the towel is definitely the rarest merch item I have out of everything in there.”
Taylor Curl
Since then, the towel has remained in the bag, until recently, when she figured she would take it out for a few seconds to get a good view of it. As she looked at the towel, she couldn’t help but think about how this year marks 11 years since that concert. The moment inspired her to share the story on TikTok.
She took a video of the towel and posted it. Then, it went viral, amassing more than 460,000 views and 500 comments.
“I never thought so many people would see it or find it interesting, so I was definitely surprised to see,” she says. “There were actually a lot of comments from people saying they also caught towels or water bottles at a One Direction show back in the day, and that they still have them as well. I saw a few comments playfully suggesting I should lock my doors, which made me laugh.”
“I hope that my experience can show people that Harry is one of those artists that is very kind and generous to his fans, and one of the ways he shows that is through interacting with people in the crowd at his shows,” she continues.
Curl adds how if she ever got to meet Styles, she already knows what she’d say to him. “I would love to get a chance to thank him for always creating such a safe space for his fans,” she says. “He has positively impacted so many people just by being himself.”
She adds, “I would also want to ask him what made him want to throw the towel to us, and also what his favorite part of touring is.”
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