Daul Kim (; May 31, 1989 – November 19, 2009) was a South Korean

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

ger. She died by

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

at the age of 20.

Career

Kim was born in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, on 31 May 1989. She was regularly featured in magazines such as British ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

'', ''

i-D ''i-D'' is a British biannual magazine dedicated to fashion, music, art, film and youth culture. The magazine was launched in 1980 by Terry Jones, originally as a hand-stapled fanzine it has since evolved into a glossy publication. In 2023 the ...

'' and '' Dazed & Confused''. In South Korea, she appeared on the covers of South Korean ''Vogue'' in August 2007 and May 2008 and in ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

'' in July 2008. She made her international catwalk debut at

Paris Fashion Week Paris Fashion Week (, commonly ) is a series of designer presentations held semi-annually in Paris, France, with spring/summer and autumn/winter events held each year. Dates are determined by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. Pa ...

in 2007.

Karl Lagerfeld Karl Otto Lagerfeld also called Kaiser Karl (; 10 September 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a German fashion designer, photographer, and creative director. Lagerfeld began his career in fashion in the 1950s, working for several top fashion hous ...

Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (; 8 April 1941 – 29 December 2022) was an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. In 2022, ''Sky Arts'' ranked her the ...

Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. It is privately owned by French brothers, Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, through the holding company Chanel Limited, established in 2018 and headquarte ...

Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen (brand), Alexander McQueen label in 1992 and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His ac ...

, and

Christopher Kane Christopher John Kane (born 26 July 1982) is a Scottish fashion designer based in London. Biography Kane was born as the youngest of five children in Newarthill, North Lanarkshire, to an engineer and draughtsman father and housewife mother. Ka ...

are among the top designers who consistently used Kim to showcase their latest collections. She also modelled for H & M and GAP. In 2008 she was named Model of the Year by ''Anan'' magazine. She also appeared on the South Korean series ''I am a Model'' in season 3. In June 2009 she appeared nude in ''i-D'' magazine, sparking criticism in Korea. Her career was developing when she moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, in 2009 to model for ''

Next NeXT, Inc. (later NeXT Computer, Inc. and NeXT Software, Inc.) was an American technology company headquartered in Redwood City, California that specialized in computer workstations for higher education and business markets, and later develope ...

''. Shortly before her death she had appeared on the cover for the Australian ''

Russh ''RUSSH'' is a quarterly, independent Australian fashion magazine established in 2004. The magazine primarily focuses on fashion, art and music. In 2018, ''Russh'' was listed by ''StyleCaster'' as one of the "21 International Fashion Magazines T ...

'' as well as video advertisements for

Topshop TOPSHOP (originally Top Shop) is a British online fast-fashion retailer, which specialises in women's clothing, shoes and accessories. It is majority owned by Danish company, Bestseller. In 2024, ASOS sold 75% of Topshop and Topman to Bests ...

Richard Nicoll Richard Philip Nicoll (15 September 197721 October 2016) was an English fashion designer, best known for his work on modernist classics with the coined term "night-to-day" versatility. Nicoll was awarded three Association Nationale pour le Dé ...

and

Personal life

Kim was a keen painter and on 10 August 2007 she held a solo exhibition of her artwork in Seoul. She collected antique forks and kept a blog titled "I Like to Fork Myself". She was also a fan of

Klaus Kinski Klaus Kinski (, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski 18 October 1926 – 23 November 1991) was a German actor. Equally renowned for his intense performance style and notorious for his volatile personality, he appeared in over 130 film roles in a ...

and his films and collected works. She had a

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes ...

of a star on the inside of her left hand.

Death and later impact

Kim was discovered

hanged Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

in her 10th arrondissement apartment in

on 19 November 2009 at the age of 20. The Paris prosecutor's office found a

suicide note A suicide note or death note is a message written by a person who intends to die by suicide. A study examining Japanese suicide notes estimated that 25–30% of suicides are accompanied by a note. However, incidence rates may depend on ethnic ...

at the scene and ruled her death as a suicide. Kim had suffered from

loneliness Loneliness is an unpleasant emotional response to perceived or actual isolation. Loneliness is also described as social paina psychological mechanism that motivates individuals to seek social connections. It is often associated with a perc ...

insomnia Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder where people have difficulty sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep for as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low ene ...

and depression and had felt frustrated with the demands of the fashion industry for a long time. She voiced her personal thoughts and issues in her own

weblog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

and also expressed herself through her paintings. She had sometimes dodged calls from her agents because she felt overworked. As far back as 2007 she had written of angst,

self-mutilation Self-harm refers to intentional behaviors that cause harm to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues, usually without suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-abuse, self-injury, and se ...

and suicide. In April of that year, she posted: "I am going to smash my face... My life as Daul was so miserable and lonely. Please join my loneliness in another world. I love you all. Daul", but later added, "KIDDING. I'm fine. Just tired." She had also admitted that she self-harmed. In October 2009 during

New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning seven to nine days when international Fashion design, fashion collections are shown to buyers, the pres ...

she left a post on her blog describing herself as "mad depressed and overworked". She became the ninth South Korean celebrity to die by suicide in 2009. Daul's last post included a song titled "I Go Deep" by Jim Rivers. The post was titled "Say Hi to Forever", and underneath she wrote "best track forever". She took her own life shortly after.

References

External links

*
Vogue interviewDaul Kim's Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Daul 1989 births 2009 deaths 2009 suicides South Korean female models South Korean bloggers South Korean women bloggers Models from Seoul 21st-century South Korean painters Female suicides Suicides in Paris Suicides by hanging in France

Career

Personal life

Death and later impact

See also

References

External links