This story appears in Rolling Stone India’s K-Music Special Issue, on sale now. Buy your copy here.

I’ve known Holland for years now. We first connected back in 2018, shortly after his debut with the single “Neverland,” and we’ve never lost touch since. When we finally met in person in Seoul for the first time in 2019, it was one of the most delightful days of my life; we sat at a cafe in Gangnam and bonded over coffee, Rolling Stone t-shirts, pop music, and conversations about India. The level of comfort was locked in further since we’re both part of the LGBTQ+ community, and we spent nearly three hours exchanging stories about growing up gay, the artists we love, our dreams for the future, and bringing Holland to India someday. 

It was a small moment right before he blew up globally, and we’ve been unable to meet in person again since because of the pandemic, but we keep up with each other and what we have going on in our lives. One of my favorite things to witness has been Holland’s growing appreciation for fashion and his willingness to try new things. “I think it all started while I did the DAZED UK cover in 2019,” he says about when he really committed himself to learning more about fashion. The editorial in question was the magazine’s Autumn/Winter 2019 cover and featured haunting, high-fashion shots that saw the singer-songwriter donning sleek, bold looks by Givenchy and experimenting with a starker, more haute-couture image than we were used to. The most striking of all was an image where Holland was floating on a black pond, surrounded by lotus leaves, while wearing a vivid red suit, and he confirms the entire experience convinced him to be bolder with his fashion choices.