Inside BTS’ “Arirang” Comeback Costumes by Designer Jay Songzio

PARIS – When BTS took the stage at 8 p.m. Korean time on Saturday night, millions of fans around the world tuned in to witness all seven members reunited for the first time in years – a highly anticipated event already being framed as one of the most important musical moments of the year.

But beyond the debut of their album “Arirang,” the visual impact of the performance was equally striking. The group appeared in custom looks by Korean designer Jay Songzio, whose Songzio label crafted an exclusive collection for the comeback show, blending historical references with an avant-garde edge.

Titled “Lyrical Armor,” the wardrobe drew on traditional Korean dress and early Joseon-era armor, reimagined through sculptural silhouettes and a monochromatic palette. Designed to function as more than just stage outfits, the pieces formed part of the performance’s narrative, positioning BTS as modern-day cultural protagonists. Each member – RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook – were given archetypes within the visual story.

Speaking from his office just two hours before the septet hit the special stage set up in the historical Gwanghwamun Square – and as the team was still adding final elements to the looks – Songzio discussed the creative process behind the collaboration and the challenge of dressing one of the world’s biggest acts for a defining moment.

The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

WWD: Did music entertainement company Hybe approach you to work on this project?

Songzio: Hybe approached me around two months ago, when they first announced the comeback.

For them, this historical comeback was very important, in that even the title of the album is “Arirang,” which is one of the oldest and the most traditional Korean folk songs. So it was very important for them to find a very Korean brand, not only in its nationality, but also in its aesthetic. And as one of the brands who really tried to always emphasize that Korean aesthetic, I think it was a good match.

WWD: How did you collaborate on the looks? Did they select from previous collections?

Songzio: They didn’t give us any specific reference. They just said, we want a theme, we want a story that revolves around individual members, which was crazy. I did some initial sketches, and we exchanged the general story and developed through quite a long design back-and-forth process.

We did get a lot of information about the stage, about the performance, and this collaboration was not just with the members. All combined, we dressed around 80 people for this project – traditional dancers, instrumentalists, singers. It was rather a comprehensive conceptual design.

WWD: How did you approach dressing each member and bringing out their personalities?

Songzio: When I first built the story, the reason why I titled it “Lyrical Armor” was because I really tried to make this collection overall. Before going into the individual members, I felt that it was important to translate a very emotional healing into this collection, because at the end of the day music is all about emotion. And a very unique Korean emotion called “han,” which can be translated many ways, but it means sorrow and longing. In Korea, people say that we all carry time inside us because of our very turbulent history. Korea, since its very early ages, we have had countless wars – a lot of challenging and difficult times, and Korean people always had to overcome this sorrow. So I tried to build a story where these members become some sort of heroes, some sort of warriors who are fighting in these turbulent times and then leading to a brighter future.

This was the general overarching story, and because I wanted to portray them as heroic figures, the first idea came with armor – how to create armor-like clothing. Then throughout the process of speaking with the members, the performative aspect was very important, so they wanted something that’s more fluid. So then it became how to mix the initial concept of armor with the sense of fluidity. And therefore this lyrical idea came on. And fortunately, hanbok, which is the Korean garment, it’s very fluid, very light. It has this natural drape. So mixing this kind of very fluid silhouettes and design with armor-like details, we tried to create this collection.

For the individual members within this general story, each member has their own strong image. RM, who has this very charismatic presence as the leader, became in our story the hero.

Jin, who is a very elegant member, we decided to call him the artist.

Suga, who is usually the main producer, we decided to call him the architect.

J-Hope, who has a rapid, very performative approach, we called him sorigun. “Sori” means sound in Korea, and “gun” means man. So “sound man.” It’s one of these folk song performers from our histories.

Jimin, a member who’s more soft and has a lot of performance, we decided to call him the poet. V, who’s this very handsome man, we decided to call him seonbi. And seonbi is the Korean word – we could call it a nobleman, we could call it a gentleman in Korean history.

And then there’s Jungkook, who has a very dynamic image, so we decided to call him vanguard.

WWD: How much input did each member have, and how much interaction did you have to shape the look to each personality?

Songzio: A lot. Honestly, in the beginning, I didn’t expect this much participation. I thought that after the first few sketches, the members wouldn’t spend too much time on the clothing. But then it was very, very nice, because they participated a lot, even down the very smallest details – things like colors they wanted, accessories. We spent a lot of time together with individual members.

WWD: How did you approach the costume changes throughout the show?

Songzio: Because the venue is outdoors, in the middle of the palace, they aren’t able to change. So from the very beginning, the idea was how to integrate these transformative details into the collection. And that’s what we were quite good at from our past seasons as well.

Some looks have five layers. So the members would be taking off part by part, and I think it will look more dynamic than just one look.

WWD: How did you work on the background dancers and blend traditional artistry with something new and make it cohesive?

Songzio: The costume for the performance overall is two designs. One is for the dancers. And these dancers, we try to build that design of these multi-layered, almost organza-like verticals, so that once they move, this kind of very fluid movement can show a lot. This vertical idea was also creating inspiration from the beginning. It comes from these folding doors and folding windows that we have in Korean design, which we have translated into garments since several seasons.

For the instrumentalists and the other traditional singers, we mixed two concepts. So one is hanbok, the basis of the clothes. Hanbok is the most traditional kind of robe-type jacket in different lengths. So the male performers would wear a bit longer oversized one, and then the female ones would wear a very cropped one. And then we try to translate that with our recent collection’s design, mixing it with this particular inspiration, which was patchworking. We cut the bodies into these asymmetrical shapes, cut them in a very, very raw way, layered it with two different colors, a red and linen white, to give that very strong contrast. And as for all the bottoms, it was also variations of the green drape skirts and pants.

WWD: What did you learn in this process that might influence your future collections?

Songzio: This collection, to me, was very comfortable. Because as a Korean designer, I always try to bring to the designs what is Korean.

But then oftentimes, when we prepare a collection for Paris, for example, we add a lot of Korean references, and then we try to soften it a bit, whether it’s for commercial reasons or sometimes for aesthetic reasons. And then this particular collection, it really had to be Korean, Korean, Korean. Everything had to be Korean. And in this process of around two months, I think it really reinvigorated myself, but also our brand in general: how we will even more boldly show this Korean aspect in future seasons as well.

WWD: Will you be dressing them or working with them in the future for the upcoming concert tour?

Songzio: We are building some concepts as well. It will not only just be the members, but again, I think it will be members as well as this general costume design as well. So we are thinking of some concepts.

WWD: Did you pull an all-nighter? What aspects are you adding at the last minute?

Songzio: A lot of ornamental aspects – whether it’s extra studs to make them look even more like armor. With Jimin, his costume has a lot of traditional Korean frills, but these frills were normally made out of tweed, leather and linen. But then he wanted these more like jewelry-type ones, so we’re adding extra black onyx and other metallic, almost jewelry-like pieces onto the clothes to make it even more ornamental. So even with these very small elements, the members gave a lot of feedback.

Last night, Jungkook wanted his white shirt painted in a very rough, distressed way, inspired by Korean landscape painting. So we added that yesterday. The reason why I mentioned landscape painting was also because we developed a special fabric for this collection. It’s this very distressed handwoven fabric, made out of cotton and linen, with cascading threads that gives a natural, organic feeling.

The rest – you know, it’s like the night before the show, I guess everybody stays up.

WWD: And how are you feeling for the show?

Songzio: Our flagship has columns, and we normally have lights coming from the bottom. We changed the color into purple light, and there’s a lot of fans outside. This collaboration has been very meaningful from the beginning, but I’m trying not to get too excited.