RM on Airport Style, BTS, and Art & Philosophy | Fashion Neurosis

Welcome to Fashion Neurosis, RM.

Thank you for having me.It's my pleasure.And it's really nice and comfy here.

Can you tell me what you're wearing today and why you chose these particular clothes?

So this is the new season of Prada.It's also one of my favorite brand.And yeah, you know, leading by Raf Simons.And he's also my favorite.And like, to be honest, I'm really These days, I'm really counting on my stylist, which is my friend.Shout out to Kim.

And he recommended this shirt because usually I really like this kind of like muted and bleached, you know, dyings from the like natural elements.So with this color, I feel really natural in myself.

Yeah, it's such an important thing that clothes, they have the power to really free you from self -consciousness.

Sometimes.

And you're the leader of BTS, one of the biggest bands of all time.And you've sold over 40 million albums.And you're the only band since the Beatles to have three number one albums in a year.And you have a humility that's not associated normally with pop music.And I wondered why that's important to you.

I think I never had a wish like to be this big becauseI always wanted to have such influence too.When you become an artist or an influencer, then sometimes you really want to reach as many as you can.So when you are in the middle of the pop music industry, particularly, it feels really easy to be just interrupt and to be feeling like you have to make people happy and you have to do better on the charts and you're in the mainstream, so you should keep your influence and impact by the numbers and stuff.But why I chose this thing?No, maybe it's not that I chose.

Somebody gave this thing to me and If there's a reason, then I have a belief that it should be still starting from somewhere else, not like you're trying to give people something.It should be rooted from where you are right now and what you are going through in your actual life and the influences, the inspirations you're having from the life itself.So I think it's all about balance.So, you know, now I'm in the middle of the pop industry, so I have to keep the balance, like try to keep the distance from the numbers and impact itself and try to get close to the nature and all those kind of things that are not related to this fast, such a fast era.

Yeah, so you can stay connected to the idea that is your inspiration.

Yes, because as a young man, I'm 31, by the way, it is really not that easy to be not to be interrupted by all those shorts and reels and clips.

Yeah.

It makes me really nervous and keep making me feel like I have to do something, like every day, every time I have to leave something, but it's gone so fast.So I have my biggest fear for those waves coming through so fast.

God, it's a real mantle that you're wearing.Was fashion a thing in your home?And I wondered if anyone in your family, was there anyone whose style influenced you?

My father wanted to be like a cartoon artist.I don't know what it is.called in English.He wanted to draw cartoons.But at that time in Korea, we were really poor and we got nothing.So my grandmother stopped him from what he really wanted to do.

And my mother was a teacher.And so I think my father had some such craving and eager for something else except studies and jobs and stuff.So he was really quite supportive for what I was trying to do, which is music.And my mother, she was really always trying to give me the stability and telling me not to challenge too much, just be in the safe zone.And I was like a small like a clock pin going back and forth with my father and mother.So I think I've learned the balance from my parents and they were such great parents to me.

Because you've described experiencing Stendhal syndrome where looking at certain works of art and feeling overwhelmed by the intensity of what you see.And I wondered if you'd ever had those kind of intense and extreme reactions toany fashion.

I still remember when I first looked at the clothes of Rick Owens.

Yeah.

And he was also in Fashion Eurosis, I know, because I watched it.And so there was a store in Seoul, but it's gone right now.maybe because of the COVID.But I remember like in 2014 or 15, I got no money.I couldn't afford any piece of Rick.But I still remember when I first entered the store of Rick Owens in Seoul.

So there was a big sculpture of him, of course.And all those like black waves and darkness of his world and the silhouettes, they were really elegant.And I think that was the first time that I've got like such like a, like a stand -alone syndrome for clothes.And I first realized that, oh, color called black could be various like this.And I was, I got shocked.

That's such a great description because he's just so evocative and Everything he does is so provocative and also so moving, really, isn't it?Yeah, that must have been an amazing experience.

I still love him.clothes and, of course, his words.One of my favorite quotes from his fashion neurosis was that, you know, it went viral.Like, maybe, like the people who don't care about fashion, it's just, it's their, I mean, fashion is not their priorities and it could be hot.Yeah.I love that quote.

I know, he's so great.I'm so glad you enjoyed that.It was my first, he was my first guest and he was like a talisman.So it's lovely that he comes back into our conversation.

He is amazing.

And being visible from such a young age, how much of your identity do you hide or reveal through what you wear?

I describe it as like a life of an undercover.It's like you be a thief at night and act like a police officer at daytime, in the daytime.And I think I had a tough time for long to just admit it because when I was in my 20s, I thought that I should have like an edge and I should be defined and described as just like one edge.But as time passed by and I got to realize that a human being and an identity could be really, it's always like so.of a complex and complicated.And it was all about the contradictions and dualities.

So I'm still fighting with all those contradictions that how much should I reveal myself to the others, to the public?Or how much should I hide my privacy?I'm still figuring out what to show and what to hide.But I think the best way to reveal your real, real things is the art itself.For me, it's music.So I'm trying to reveal my bad things and demons I want to spit out as music.

I suppose that's what people can really relate to as well.There is no such thing as a completely pure person.It's such a comforting thing to hear that described in music.

Yes, it's amazing that, you know, when we see the great artists, their personal story could be universal.I think that's the beauty of an art, that when it comes to a painter, a sculptor or a fashion designer, architect, novelist, musician,their personal histories and their ways of dealing with their own trials and hardships in their lives.But all we could witness is their results and their final pieces of their digestion.And I think that is so beautiful to watch.And I always wanted to be someone like that.

Well, you are.I mean, you seem...

I'm trying.

Yeah, I suppose that is the most, the difference maker is that we try and it continue, you know, that's the thing that drives us forward.And you come across as a very thoughtful person and you cite a lot of literary influences from writers like including George Orwell and Murakami and even Carl Jung.And I wondered, what was the first book that changed your life?

I think, well, just to add, I mean, I think I read much more when I was younger.And all those social media keeps making me not to read books.It's getting really harder and harder to watch cinemas and read books these days because I feel like bored sometimes.I could watch the movies on Netflix and we could always stop.So these days, sometimes it'sfeels like a luxury to go to a theater and make our phone to an airplane mode and just to be just leaded by a single director's intentions and artistry.

It's becoming more rarer and rarer experience these days.I think my first book, Like a Stengel Syndrome, was for books.I think it was Damien, if it's right, by Harman Hasse.

Yeah.

Yes.And because I think I discovered the essence and the reality of my, what do we call it?Like jealousy.

So interesting.Yeah.

Because Damien has been described like a perfect human being, very ideal type of human being.And the phrases, the start was really powerful, like about the bird and the egg, about the abraxas.So I think I've read it over like four or five times.

Really?Gosh.

When I was young.

I think I should read it again because it's - Yeah, I want to read it now you're describing it.

It's - It felt like a, for me, it felt like a school life at that time.The bad feelings and like jealousy I've had forkids, the friends I have in my class, like very tall, very handsome, very smart, or like, you know, very good at sports, who's always popular from the girls.So I could reflect on my real life, even though if I was a teenager at that times, yeah.I remember that.

It's such a good book to a fan because jealousy can be such a thwarting and crushing feeling.I remember my shrink saying to me, I was talking about feeling how bad I felt to feel competitive with someone.He said, well, you can treat it as a game and to read something at that young age, so philosophical and also, that it's actually not that bad to feel jealous.It's part of finding out what you can handle.It seems an amazing book.How did you find that book?

It was being treated like a classic and very, very recommended by the parents and teachers.So I think my parents always took me to the city library every weekend.And I think that's one of the best things that parents could do to their kids.So they just naturally gave me the chance to reach all those great answers and interestingof the ancestors.

Yeah.God.

Yes.

Because you have the demeanor of a man with the burden of leadership and how to use his power in a conscientious way.And I wondered, how do you deal with the loneliness that comes with being a leader?

It's still hard because I was the first the member of the team, the band.And the label did give me a lot of burden to put the team together as a team.And we had such different backgrounds from different cities and different tastes, different dreams.So I think I was really like overwhelming or very like a powerful type of like bossy.type of leader for the first like eight, nine years.But as the team got bigger and they have their own names and careers, it just didn't work out anymore.

So of course, I mean, they grew up a lot also.So after that, I've changed the way to communicate.And I think a leader is just like this.For example,everybody is lying on the couch and the window is open and too cold.So somebody has to close it, but nobody wants to because it's too comfy here lying on the couch.

It's so annoying.If one single person has to stand up and get off the couch and walk a few steps to close the door, then I think that's what a leader does for every part of the team.That's all.

That's a huge thing, isn't it?

It is a huge thing for some situations.

I suppose you, by getting up to close the window, you risk losing your place on the cozy couch.It is the act of courage and confidence as well.

So I think it's basically really just annoying to be a leader, but it's like, I just couldn't let anybody do it.Because I was like, if somebody has to do it, then it should be me.Because I just can't watch somebody else just doing it.And if it's not working out as I expected, then I could be more stressed out.So I think that's why.And when they sometimes just tell me that, I know your efforts and I'm really happy to have a leader like you.

And all those stress, they're gone.So that's the beauty of the team.

Yeah.Well, you're clearly very good at it because it's...

Yes, it's been 15 years I have been living with them and I spend half of my life, literally, with the six members.By the way, we have seven members in the team.

Yes.

Usually it's four, but we're seven.Oh, really?

Gosh.

The lucky number.

Yeah.

So it's a lot.

Wonderful.Kazam, for your solo album, Right Place, Wrong Person, you worked with Wing Sha, the legendary stills photographer who worked with Wong Kar Wai.And his lighting techniques and framing, they propose you as an ordinary individual, but clearly an exceptional person.And in fashion, everyone's obsessed with a mood for love.And it's such a romantic, melancholy choice.And Are those introspective moods somewhere you feel comfortable?

Yeah, that's my favorite album so far because that's my most recent album.Thanks for noticing, by the way.

They're so beautiful, the photographs.Sorry to interrupt.

I was really trying to get away from where I was because just by the excuse of that I'm too busy just doing my role and doing all those schedules, I just realized that I'm too lazy these days for digging stuff andstudying all those great art world outside.And when I was working on the album, right before the military, I just tried to get away as far as I could.And Wingshot, of course, everybody loves Wonka Wee's movies.And it's really interesting that even the Gen Zs and the Alphas There are lots of fans of Wonka Wee still.So I think it's proving that he built his own original world by himself.

And all I focused was just to be more chill and be not too nervous all the time.Because being a leader of the team and the pop industry, they gave me a lot.But it also, they took many things from me.So the one thing was that I was always like this, like stuck in, I have to do this very well.I want to do this really good.I have to do my best all the time.

So there was always some kind of tensions with my whole life.And I just tried to loosen it.Me and my team thought thatWingshow would be like a wonderful artist who could lead me to another world because he always captures the...I think he has such like really sensitive like setups for those frames and the objects.But when he grabbed the camera, it feels like he just does it really rough and just in a second.

Really?Gosh.

Yes.So it was really new and a fresh experience for me to work with a bald hair.

I mean, they're so striking and picture of you in a pool of light is just, it's like he's able to show more of you than maybe you might care to reveal, you know, with your privacy.But he to see those pictures was very, I felt that I learned something more about you to look at them.There was such a depth to them and...

Oh, that's really wonderful to hear.Thank you.He will also like it.

I mean, it seemed like a meeting of spirit and creative kind of...

It was an old hotel, like dumped.Really?Yes.And it's just, I think it's just being used like like a place for location for shooting.these days, because I think it's on sale, the building, but I think it's not sold yet.So it was really like a strange place, like backroom.

So I think he is a veteran.So he captured the maybe the blurry concept or the thing that I want to deliver in the title of Right Place, Wrong Person.Because I think in 2026, most of the people could think themselves like that when you are in a company and you feel like you're the only wrong person.Am I the only one who thinks like this or who acts like this?I think everyone may have an experience of feeling like he or she is a wrong person in a right place, or a right person in a wrong place.

Yeah.Feeling the outsider is a thing you hear a lot of people talking about.

In times of loneliness, you said, it's getting more connected and connected by the phones and the media, but it's the contradiction that people with depression and loneliness getting a lot and lot these days.

Yeah, it is.And you're constantly surprising in your artistic references.And I noticed you had Kim Gordon's, Bye Bye.on playing on one of your Instagram posts and I love that.

She's the, I know she was also on Fashion Nurses.

Yes, she was.

And I think she's the, everyone knows she's the coolest grandmother in the world.I don't want to call her a grandma, but she's the coolest.

Is it like, because I love that her music, that sort of punk music, that was my generation.And if I wanted to listen to a Korean singer who embodied that kind of crackle and tension and sort of thing that she has, who would I listen to?Who would you recommend?

Really, really strong.

Yeah.

And intense.You should listen to No Brain.

No Brain, okay.

You could already feel the...

I get it already.

The band is called No Brain.

Yeah.

And I think the coolest grandfather who's still ongoing, like Kim Gordon, his name is Kim Chang -won.And he was also in a band called Sanullim, which is translated as the echoes of a mountain.It's like Sonic Youth of Kim Gordon.

Wow.Yeah.

I think it's very psychedelic, but I think he's truly one of the best Korean artists in the history.So I would recommend you No Rain and Kim Chang Wan.

Okay.I'm going to check them out.That's exciting.And you're interested in art and music.a sophisticated taste in paintings and sculpture.And I read that you like Philip Guston and Giacometti, and you have an amazing collection in your home, mostly of Korean art.

And I wondered, what was the first piece of art that you knew that you liked?

On tour, when you're doing a tour, sometimes you just can't go out.because there are a lot of fans and it's really hard to just be on your own.So I was in 2018, I was really, really bored and I got nothing to do.I didn't know anything except like shopping or playing games in the room.So it just suddenly popped up and a member of the team called V just proposed me like, why don't we go to a museum I was like, a museum?I'm not a museum guy.

Isn't it just boring just to go there?But we just went there because we got nothing to do.And I saw the paintings of Monet and Van Gogh and Sarah.And of course, I knew the names of them because I saw them in the book when I was in school.literally the first time to just ever like physically to have a chance to look at their actual paintings andI think Impressionism is still the biggest, the most widest open entrance for all of the outside people in the art world.

So, Monet and Gaw and Sarah, they opened me the entrance.And as I got into it further and further, more and more, my tastes became a little bit more of a complex and complicated.Yeah, that's how I just got into it.

Because in the video, you have a little sculpture by Ugo Rondinoni, which I love.I once went to his house in New York and he had all these crazy sculptures everywhere.It was really exciting.

I just loved how he just added the colors to the rocks.

Yeah.

And so it just, it twisted.You know, art helps you make it widen for your perception to the world.And after I saw the colors of his rocks and stones, I think he gave me a twist of when I also see the actual mountains and rocks.So I just love that.

Oh, that's great.Gosh.Because you talked about something called airport fashion, and you said, people expect me always to wear something new.And I wondered what your favorite airport fashion is at the moment.

Airport fashion.

That's a good expression.

Yes.Is there my favorite airport fashion?I remember when I first say, I think it was like 12 years ago and like 2013 or 14.I got to know The V Collective, the crew, our future of Tyler, the creator, and Frank Ocean are all sweatshirt.And I just got to love their vibes.And so I was not very rich at that time.

So all I could buy was the T -shirt of Golf Wayne.And it looked, when I looked at the picture of those times, it's ridiculous because I'm wearing like pink socks and the donuts over the t -shirt.I mean, but I kind of like it because it reminds me of the times that I was really more pure and younger.And I just got to realize that if you hate something too much, then you kind of like it.

Yes.That's so true.

If you really hate it, then you've just got no interest.

That's such a brilliant point.It's always, there's something in there, isn't there?

Yes.So, ironically, it's my favorite, the pink socks.

Yeah.And are there certain garments that make you feel better when you're feeling low?

I call it, in Korea, maybe, me and my friends call it, like, the heels.I have my heels.And they are, I think the nature is always the best therapist.70 % of Korean land is made of mountains.So we could go hiking in every cities.So mountains, rivers, and the sea.

We also have sea in Korea too.So they are my teachers and therapists.And mostly the friends.Because I don't like myself sometimes when I feel like I'm too obsessed with the relationships.Like I always ask myself like, Could you just please be on your own for a second?Why do you always need somebody to talk to or to go for a trip?

Could you just let yourself be alone for like a week?Because I sometimes feel...I mostly feel really hard to just do nothing and just be on my own.But friends, I think sometimes they're everything.Yeah, I'm a young friend.And art, of course, music, architecture, books, art.

There are lots of hills that I always have to rely on.And that's the exact point.I just finally find myself like, I'm too weak.I always need those hills.

Yes.I suppose part of being strong is to recognize weakness or what people call weakness, but it's just a different mode, isn't it?It's a different place, as long as you don't, speaking for myself, sink down too far and then there's so far to come up.

Yes, I think being strong starts from unmeeting your weakness and from your defects and flaws.I have too many flaws.

You're quite a hard taskmaster on yourself.

Maybe because I grew up in Korea and Korea is such a very intense country, but that was the, you know, that's where the contradiction comes through because that's the exact point what made Korea this Korea.So I love it.

But I hate it at the same time.But I suppose that's also the signature of an artist.I mean, I read this little book.about Giacometti once, and he tortured himself about his work and was always undoing it and - Fixing it.Yeah.But if you can bear to be like that, it's incredible.

Yes.Sometimes I just don't know any ways, any ways else but pushing yourself too hard to the edge.I mean, it's really too much overwhelming sometimes, but eventually I want to be a different person.I want to get away from this someday.

Well, it's good things are phases and you're such a young person and you've done so much.And you seem as though when you set your mind to something that you go towards that.So I'm looking forward to seeing You're next.On the cover of your new album, Arirang, BTS are all wearing these permutations of an elegant suit that could almost be a uniform.It's glamorous and it suggests the confidence to be subtle.Do you feel like subtlety is a more representative of where you are at the moment?

Yes, because we had to admit that we are very confused.We just can't.reach a certain very obvious consensus of visions or tastes or dreams.So it was a very confused album.I think I'm still very confused and I think about subtlety a lot.But yeah.

I just don't really know.It's very subtle.So we wanted to be very straight forward, but we failed.But we did know that we were going to fail.That was maybe the place that the subtlety comes from.And those conflicts and the shakings, I think it's where I am right now in 2026.

I want to be very... certain and straight, but I think I always fail.

I mean, I think it's the most incredibly beautiful picture because it seems to have all this, it seems to capture the past of each member.And even though, you know, there are certain similarities in the way that you're all dressed, there's this individuality that really shines out of each person.And I, I think it's really beautiful.And, and I, I was,suppose there is no such thing as certainty in a way, and that's got to be good because it means things can evolve.As somebody with a lot of ideas, it's just a bit nerve -wracking to feel like that.

Sorry.Because you come across as someone with immense focus and inner strength.What does self -discipline mean to you and when does it feel strengthening and when does it feel restrictive?

Sometimes I feel like I'm too much of a control freak for myself.Just like, you must not get lazy.It's not the time to chill out.Like, for example, I think the tour is one of the final completion of a musician because it's a total package of music, performance, choreographies and visuals, and most importantly, the fans.And we have this such community eye -to -eye and face -to -face.But once the tour starts, I was forgetting about this because it's been almost seven years that we haven't been on tour because of the COVID and the military.

And so it was in a while.And the tour started three months ago.And I got to realize like, I just, man, I have so much time without, but it's.such a, I have to use a lot, lots of energy to do this.So most of the time, except the actual concerts, I'm like exhausted.But I always try to go out, like for example, here I'm in London, so I'm planning to go to Hayward Gallery to see the Anish Kapoor exhibition.

I jump too much in the tour, so my legs, they always hurt so much.So it's really hard to walk, just walk.But I always push myself like, when could you see this place or exhibition if it's not now?But so my self -discipline is just always about those two things.Like, am I controlling myself too much?No.

it's okay you could chill out it's been 15 years you always waited for this moment nah the world is flowing too fast you have to push it more nah you have to chill out bro please chill out so um so a friend of mine told me i just hope you live the life of an undercover like even more push it to the edge even more likewhen you're in the team just do all those stuff like a pop star like a perfect like like you could do it even better and better you just you should enjoy it but when you just come back to your like a private time just be yourself say anything spit it out i just you could be you could do both roles even more and more and better and better.Just don't try to combine it together.I think that's where your insecurity comes from.And that helped me really much.But it's really hard just to do that sometimes.

It's a great bit of advice, I must say.And is there a particular garment that you find attractive on somebody that you're romantically interested in?

Yes.I think about it a lot.And I think I also, I kind of want to see like the contradictory image from somebody, because if somebody could be very, very serious, but very, very ridiculous and humorous at the same time, maybe I think I might fall in love with that person.

That's so nice.

Yes.Because I don't know why, maybe if I, could be with that.kind of person for a long time, I could, I feel like I might have a really, really, like a happy life and happy times with, you know, like such full of content talking about maybe the social issues from like political things and just to like, which beer do you prefer the most, Belgian or German?I prefer Korean, something like that.Yeah.Yeah.

I think I find such riz when I see somebody's very, very duality.

Yeah.

Yeah, the duality.

And if you fancy someone and don't like something they're wearing, does it kill your attraction?

I think I used to when I was young because I was like, fashion is everything.like clothes, it's the best way to express yourself.But, you know, Rick already taught me on fashion neurosis.There was a lesson.And I think as I got a little bit older, I've learned how to really, really respect somebody's taste and way of expressing themselves.I was talking that I'm that I'm learning about it.

like years ago.But now I think I could say that I became a person like that even more.And for that part, that is the exact part that I want to come like that even more and more.And fashion is the clothes.It's really important because we just habitually judge people just by the looks and the fashion.Nobody wants to be judged easily.

Because on your album Arirang, you have a song called Normal.Yes.I wondered what rituals do you have to create normality when there's less of it around in your life.I noticed on your video when you were showing the art that you made your bed and I wondered if that was one of your rituals and what rituals you use to ground yourself.

to turn off, right?The word, you know, sometimes a language or a single word could define your entire world.So just my obsession with a word, normality, that was the way, one of the best way to get away from it.Like you should be normal.You should just be one of them.Because I am living like a strange life, but as I got to like obsess with the, like, oh, I want to be like a normal person.

Like, I just want to be one of them.And as I got to obsess with it, I just, I think it just runs away from me even more.So I just, I'm trying to stop thinking Thinking about normality.

It's a really good idea.

You should turn yourself off.You should be private.You should not be noticed.I just, I am trying to get away from it.

I mean, it's the most incredible album.I've really immersed myself in it and been enjoying it so much.And your process is so rigorous and the effect is both optimistic and full of freedom and inclusion.I love the song Hooligan and it has these captivating melodies and also what sounds like metallic.I mean, I imagine swords clashing like ancient sounds.How do you bring all these things together?

I mean, it's an impossible question to answer as I'm asking it, but it's so you have all these beautiful things happening and then The effect is just very, very direct and definite and goes straight into the heart.

We had a lot of friends and partners who helped us so much.We did the session for an album like three, four months, and we stayed in LA, and we luckily had a chance to work with such great musicians and artists that could help expand our world.And Hooligan is also one of my favorite.

Is it?

Oh, I love it.Yes, it's produced by, it's a track by El Quincho.He did a lot of music for Roselia.So he's a very, very extraordinary and special sound maker.So he brought all those strange and never heard of sound to the session.And I remember Jungkook and J -Hope did make those amazing like no brainer top lines for and also like came up with the word hooligan.

So the credit is I think I did a such a small part of for this album because the team itself got so much bigger than before and and even the other members they also have done their own solo careers and they grew up so much so i rely i count on them so much so i'm a very very lucky person and i've learned so much through process of makingalbum.And I think I could do better when it comes back to my solo album, the next.So yeah, it's beautiful on back and forth, I guess.

Well, thank you so much, RM, for being on Fashion Neurosis.It's just been wonderful to listen to you and to connect with everything that you've talked about.It's really...

It's such an honour to be here.I might be the first Korean.

I am so honoured to have you here.And I just think there's something magical that you've done with your music that you managed to touch people from such a huge age range.And that is really a huge talent, the talent of a leader that you clearly manifest.Thank you so much.

a format of, you know, bumping into somebody's home and casa and talking with Bella, which is an amazing person.And this was one of my deepest and the most honest and happiest interview that I've ever done.

Thank you so much.Thank you.It means so much.