RIP Daul Kim - 1989-2009

[sethii]

note: The 'Bak Hye Lim' in this article is the model we know at tFS as Park Hye Rim.

Following the unfortunate news of Daul Kim's death, her fellow friends in the model business have shared their condolences for the 20-year-old model.

Model Hye Bak (real name: Bak Hye Lim) updated the main screen of her minihompy with the headline "Goodbye" and a brief message "You will be sorely missed."

Hye Bak and Daul have appeared on various fashion shows together and even ranked in the Top 50 fashion models on a site called www.models.com.

Model Lee Hyuk Soo (real name: Lee Soo Hyuk) also shared a few words on his Cyworld minihompy: "Daul, you have to be happy."

Lee Hyuk Soo has always maintained a close friendship with Daul.

She's walked for Chanel and been the face of Moschino, and always shared her spunky side in her blog and through her paintings. She was admired among fashion followers for her gorgeous editorials and runways. Daul worked hard to bring environmental awareness and action to the youth of South Korea as the spokesperson for the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement.

Daul has maintained a blog, I Like To Fork Myself. Her final blog entry was titled "Say Hi to Forever" and was posted on the 18th, just one day prior to her passing.

Daul was pronounced dead in her apartment at Paris, France. Although the official cause of her death remains unknown at this time, the local police, who are currently in the process of investigation, presume it a suicide.

The effect of her unexpected and untimely death has undoubtedly come as a great shock and disbelief to many people. It is such a shame that the world has lost an intelligent and beautiful young woman as Daul. Regardless, our hearts go out to her family, friends and fans during this time of sadness.

allkpop.com

 

[sethii]

Korean cable channel O'live plans to air some footage from Daul Kim's last interview in a two-part series titled, "Daul Kims Beautiful Twenties." They're airing it as a way to pay tribute to her successful yet unfortunate short-lived career. The series will also feature footage from Daul Kim's participation in this year's New York Fashion Week, which took place in October, as well as stories from her debut days.

The majority of Daul's hour-long interview with MC Suh Eun Young will air in the second episode titled "Kim Daul's Unfinished Words." In the interview, Daul can been seen thanking Suh Eun Young her helping her become a top model in Korea. Daul also stated "Ever since I started modeling, I've been able to make friends." She also went onto say that she was very happy to be part of the fashion industry as the people were very welcoming of her off-the-wall personality.

"Living in Korea is somewhat difficult. But in Seoul, I can feel this energy that I can't feel anywhere else in the world. I think Seoul is even more chic than New York. I feel that Korea is a great country, I'm very proud of Korea."

In regards to her personal life, she said: "I've been working too hard. Right now, I have a tiny apartment in Paris with just a pretty rice cooker. I'm happy I can buy fresh fruits from the local grocer."

Such a tragic event, but maybe this last interview will give us more insight into Daul Kim and what she was going through.

allkopop.com

 

[The_Ida]

I have been thinking a lot about this the last few days. It has hit me so hard because I know what it's like when someone in your family commits suicide. I'm so sad for her mother
I'm also sad in a more egoistic way. I loved looking at her pics. They gave me so much joy - and very few models make me feel good about myself. I'm so sad that we won't be seeing more of her work, because she had so much inside her.

 

[Leeroi]

I am Asian and I think the Asian media is one of the most hypocritical in the world. I don't for one doubt that Korean people hated her blonde hair to the point of scrutinizing her constantly about it. We are constantly told by the media that to remain true to our culture, and accept our traditions and how we look, and yet we are bombarded every day that the whiter you are the more beautiful you are. And that skinnier legs like European girls are more beautiful. Have you been to Asia and watched television? Most of the commercials are of bleaching creams and soaps, and then right after wards they talk about being proud to be Korean or Filipino or Japanese or Chinese. And when you ask these celebrities if bleaching your skin is demeaning to their culture, they simply ignore the question.... and you know, many Asians are affected by this issue. We are constantly told by our own parents and people around us that our brown skin is inferior to white skin so we must bleach it to be more beautiful.

In Daul's case, it is ofcourse worse that she is in the public spotlight. I wished someone would have talked to her about her depression, because it was rather apparent from her blog. And the worse part is that whenever she wrote a stanza about being depressed or expressing strong emotions, people comment saying "that's beautiful".

Another thing, in the Korean media, they never call her a "super"model, even Hye Park they didn't call "super"model. they reserved that title to studio owned models who worked strictly in Korea.

 

[EvanJ2010]

I was praying this wasn't true She was one of my favorite models. She was unique and a timeless beauty. She will forever be missed. Rest In Peace

 

[Leeroi]

sethii thanks for the articles.

 

[Drusilla_]

This is heartbreaking...not because she was an amazing model, but because it's awful to hear of so much talent and potential ending so early. So sad for her family and friends...and it's horrible that people (ie online bullies, I've heard Korean ones are particularly nasty and she said as much on her blog) put her in the position of having to defend herself and her work.

Ultimately, what I'll really miss- and never forget- was a person who was so expressive and opinionated among a sea of people who just say what they think other people would like to hear. I'll miss her frankness, and how she was unafraid to stand out. I won't just miss her for being lovely or having great style (and she had beauty and style in spades). And I'm always going to keep my old i-D issues that featured her, just to remind myself of what she was like.

 

[lawbstar]

and...

2009/08/21
say hi to...what my mom thinks of me
my mom sent me an email

"Hello Daul! mother went to see prada exhibition.
do u know rem koolhas? interesting.
i saw this video and reminded me of you because her work is really
not for children. hardcore... is your code no?
her name is Nathalie Djuberg and she is swedish
but lives in berlin. please see her work"

please do follow the link to view the image referred to. In the context it really
is quite a shocking communication-

http://iliketoforkmyself.blogspot.com/2009/08/say-hi-towhat-my-mom-thinks-of-me.html

I found that post to be and example of how the relationship was good between daul and her mom. seems like her mom knows daul well and understands her and wasn't insulting her in any way. if you look at the end of the post it is a picture of her and her mom together smiling and it had positive feedback from everyone who read it.

 

[Exclusive]

Daul Kim was so funny so chatty and intelligent so obversely beautiful . R.I.P

 

[scratchBOOK]

evrything that leerol said is sooooo true

 

[LUXXX]

I don't live in Korea, but alot of my family members and friends live there and most of them don't know her or have heard of her, and according to them only major news networks have given this news some air time. Remember that Korean Entertainment is different from other countries. Each and every celebrity is owned by a studio, and each studio is owned by a particular channel, so you can't really intermix celebrities with each other unless they're in the same channel. Daul Kim never had a contract with any studio since she was an overseas worker, so most channels have not really featured her in the past.

Right now there's a big concert taking place in Korea, one of the biggest concerts of the year, and it's practically overshadowing the news of her death. If you go to one of the biggest and most popular entertainment/news websites of Korea (allkpop.com) you'll see how nonchalant some people are about such her.... You'd think this news would be more important to them than some girl kissing a guy.

This is very enlightening, I had no idea it was all so controlled. Wow...

 

[winterlove]

Ever since I heard about her death, I can't stop thinking about her.
It's sad, of course, but what's more sad is that it didn't seem like she had any support around her. Even through her blogs, nobody seemed to notice anything. I just wish someone would've reached out to her. It's a shame if a big part of her death was because of the fashion industry, because the news makes it sound like that, like she couldn't keep up with it and that she was exhausted.

It really makes you think..

 

[evenodd]

Its tragic when something like this happens, you never really know what you miss until its gone. I hope shes in a better place now and my heart goes out to her family and friends.

 

[ad041715]

Sessilee Lopez's comment:

The moment that I heard the news it took all of my power not to break down backstage at the VS show yesterday. Daul was so sweet, amazing as a model but as a person she was a true role model. I will miss her terribly, she was truly loved by everyone who was blessed enough to meet the real Daul Kim….. I will forever love you R.I.P

models

 

[DaisyLovesJack]

That is so sad.

 

[loonaka]

I feel really empty inside when I think that she will never do anything again...she's just gone, and she'll never come back no matter what. It's so sad.
I kinda knew she wasn't famous in South-Korea, since the celebrities are different there, and from what I've seen they have a certain look. And I would just like to say that I think that the people who thought that she didn't embrace her Asian roots or what not when she bleached her hair..that's just racist. No one says anything when a white person dies his or her's hair black..I really don't see the difference. And for me, who is Korean she was such a role model, even tho I didn't know her at all..but she made me feel that it was ok to be whatever you wanted to be, and don't care so much about what other people thought..I loved it when she had her blonde hair, and I think I'll always remember her and miss her, 'cause she meant alot to me.

 

[vogueness]

Daul, you are, and will always be, so damn special xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[silk skin paws]

Such sad news.

 

[saturnine]

it's amazing how you feel like you 'know' someone through reading their blog. this news stuffed me up, because I could always read her pain.

are any of her paintings online? I'd love to see them... gosh she was gorgeous

 

[iperlchen]

I love Daul's blog.

I'll link it again

http://iliketoforkmyself.blogspot.com/

[...]

Someone suggested the industry should do something to mark Daul's passing.
I like the fact that over the last couple of days we have congregated at Daul's blog to pay our respects and understand a little better the beautiful mind of one of history's greatest models. That congregating is enough for me.

Although, of course, let the tributes continue. Many with 2 second attention spans will tweet off to the next piece of undifferentiated 'news'. But others will know: Daul is important.

I've been thinking a lot about her because I keep reading her blog posts... I think it's great she left it as a legacy (of course apart from the great modeling jobs and other projects she delivered but that's work, blogs are personal). I just came across this post of hers about Milan Kundera's books.. She might've found it a silly and sentimental thought, but I enjoy being able to read her blog now although she's gone and getting to know a little bit about the person she was. She was such a bright person. In some way, blogs might also be case studies like she was talking about. B)

i love milan's style of writing, very analytical and psychological

very reasonable, erotic, interesting, kind of grotesque, kind of stereotyping...

but very very... true

i really like studying human behavior and how certain people's mind work

it is kind of like.. little things when you see how someone behaves

very slight things

where u can tell

"oh he/she has unresolved issues with his mother"

"oh that person , sexual deviant!"

"oh that person probably goes home and revises their conversation
e.g. im going to say this when i introduce myself at dinner today"

"oh that persons wanting me to think in a certain way. "

or even scary things like

"were you fat when you were a child?"

"did you grow up in this kind of environment?"

like milan kundera's books totally talking about things like this for every character in his book

he pretends to like explain the character, but actually its kind of trying to make people understand

how one behaves, due to usually certain kind of history/environment

and also the beauty of analytical thinking.



im beginning to think, maybe, milan is very analytical because

by analysing things,

he feels secure.

but really he knows that things can still be threatening

even when you feel like it is deeply understood through analysing and prediction.

and even this whole book by the writer, who is analytical

is also an analyses of a certain case study?

and the case study is milan kundera.

which also goes back to the everlasting forever repeating human nature

like in the movie Amadeus, mankind always praises for eternity, forever lasting

"fire that never dies"

like in the Greek legends, where people do certain things to leave their names behind


so in music, art, literature, architecture (ESP!), fame, glory, power, idolizing, history is all

going back to the same theme

wanting to be remembered

for eternity

even after death

to be a legend

even after

centuries and centuries have passed.


WHY????????????

so childish/sentimental reason in the end

"i want people to remember me even when im gone"