Harry Styles fan who sold pictures of her feet to afford £860 concert trip reveals what happened after the singer spotted her sign

Last week, Persephone Ikonomoupoulou, a 24-year-old from Thessaloniki, Greece, went viral overnight after Harry Styles stopped his London show to respond to her sign: ‘I sold feet pics to be here.’

‘One second. I’ve been absolutely distracted,’ Styles can be heard saying in videos of the interaction that have since racked up millions of views across social media. ‘You sold feet pics to get here?’ he joked, before asking Persephone her name. ‘I don’t even know what to say,’ he admitted, turning away from the microphone before adding: ‘Congratulations, I guess. So did I.’

The exchange quickly took off on TikTok, with fans praising Persephone’s determination to raise around €500 (around £430) towards the cost of seeing Harry Styles in a somewhat unconventional way.

But for Persephone, the sign wasn’t just a joke.

‘I wanted to show him what his fans are having to resort to to see him tour,’ she says. ‘My sign should have said, “Harry, you should lower your prices.”‘

Her frustration reflects a wider trend. Since the pandemic, average concert ticket prices have risen by 42%, and Harry Styles’ Together Together tour – including a 12-night run at Wembley Stadium – has attracted criticism over its prices, with standing tickets starting at £144.

For Persephone, seeing Harry perform three times at Wembley cost almost €1,000 (around £860) before she’d even booked flights or accommodation.

For many fans, the question isn’t how much they’d pay to see their favourite artist – it’s what lengths they’ll go to to make it happen.

For Persephone, that meant selling pictures of her feet.

‘It was the first time I’d done anything like that,’ she says. The opportunity came about after a man messaged her out of the blue on TikTok.

‘When he requested the feet pics, it kind of grossed me out, but I just thought, “In this economy, I have to do something to get Harry Styles tickets.”‘

She ended up selling more than ten photos to the same buyer, charging between €20 (around £17) and €40 (around £35) each. His first request was for a photo of her bare feet, but after that he was happy with pictures of her wearing socks.

‘I didn’t even have to get a pedicure,’ she laughs.

Before Harry Styles, Persephone says she’d never really been a fangirl. It was during a difficult period in quarantine that she discovered his music.

‘He was my escape. He helped me during one of the lowest points in my life.’

When Harry announced a UK-only stadium tour, she was determined to be there.

‘I thought he was going to do a European tour and when he didn’t, I was disappointed. It’s expensive and hard for me to get to London from Greece. But then I thought, “I can’t miss it. I don’t care about the money. I have to find a way.”‘

And she did. Her unusual side hustle covered around €500 of the cost of tickets for three Wembley shows.

The now-famous sign was made on the morning of the concert in the hope of catching Harry’s attention.

Despite standing on the barrier, Persephone insists she didn’t want to be the fan everyone behind her secretly complains about.

‘I didn’t hold it up the whole time. I was at the front of the barrier, and I didn’t want to bother anyone in the back or block their view. I kept manifesting that he would see me, but I never thought he’d actually talk to me.

‘But when he came over, I held it up and I think it was perfect timing. The manifesting worked.

‘When we made eye contact, I knew something was about to happen, but I didn’t think he was going to stop the song. I don’t think he’s ever done that before.’

Since posting the video on TikTok – alongside countless other fan-filmed angles of the moment – Persephone has become something of a celebrity among Harries, as Harry Styles fans are known.

‘Going viral has been overwhelming in the best way.’

The viral moment has also had one unexpected side effect.

‘Since I posted the video on TikTok, I’ve had loads of messages asking if I’m actually selling feet pics because they want to buy them. I’ve given them my PayPal, so I’m hoping I’ll get paid again.’

She’s already thinking about how to get Harry’s attention at one of her remaining Wembley shows.

This time, her sign will simply read:

‘Feet pic tutorial?’