DAUL KIM: 5/31/89 - 11/19/09

My heart sunk when I heard the news that Daul Kim – the 5’10” 20 year old model from Seoul, South Korea – was found dead in Paris on the morning of November 19th. I was particularly struck because Kim seemed more upbeat and fun than many of today’s other top models – she was, after all, the face of Moschino at one point. In addition to being a model, Kim was also a blogger and artist and her blog, “I Like to Fork Myself” was updated just a day before she passed.

Kim’s agents at Next released a statement saying that “she was a top model and a great friend to all of us at Next. Please respect her family’s privacy at this time of sadness. We will all miss her very much.”

Though the cause of death remains unknown, it is reported to have been a suicide.

The fair-skinned beauty began her modeling career in 2006 and has walked the runway for designers such as Chanel, Dries Van Noten, Salvatore Ferragamo, Alexander McQueen, and Maison Martin Margiela. She has appeared in Vogue Korea, Chinese Vogue, i-D, Korea’s Harper’s Bazaar, and V Magazine. She was also the spokesperson for the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement.