daul kim at alexander mcqueen, paris october 07
Eight hours to go before the Big One (Marc Jacobs) and still Canadian model Simona McIntyre hasn’t spilled any beans about the collection, in spite of having been back to the studio for fittings. Yesterday she did however provide some shots of “The Closet” - a vast repository of samples past from which, according to McIntyre, Jacobs pays models via what is known in the biz as “trade”. Many designers do this. It’s just a damned shame of course that more landlords don’t accept cone heels as rent. Meanwhile news emerges of yet another model blogger: Korean supe Daul Kim.
Kim has been blogging since April 2007 via the hilariously-titled I Like To Fork Myself.
Kim signs herself “Daulmonster” and her signature post signon is “Say hi to....”
She sounds pretty cool and unpretentious and is interested in the horror film genre (an interest I share), paints and writes poetry.
Kim often talks about being homesick and some of the writing is in fact quite dark. So dark, that Kim felt the need to defend herself at one point, denying that she’s either depressed or suicidal.
This appears to have been in response to some kind of reaction to her writings/comments back home in Korea.
The social commentary is quite biting at times and in one case she doesn't pull any punches in naming a fashion brand with which she has issues.
Kim claims she was turned away from a SS08 casting by the Undercover brand last year.
And look, while I'm sure Undercover would vehemently deny that there is any issue at all here, if you check the style.com shots of the show in question, there does not in fact appear to be one single Asian or black face on its SS08 runway.
This is interesting vis-a-vis the current lack-of-runway-diversity debate for two reasons.
Firstly, Undercover’s all-white runway is in fact whiter than many of the other shows which have come under scrutiny recently over their negligible Asian or black casting.
Secondly, Undercover might show in Paris however it’s not a western brand. It's Japanese.
In this post from 25th October last year titled “Say hi to racist person at Undercover”, Kim wrote:
“sometimes ASIAN people are more racist to
OTHER ASIANS
like...
THIS JAPANESE BRAND called UNDERCOVER
i was a big fan of jun [Takahashi – the designer] really, i love when he did the issue for A magazine
its my fav A magazine and it was awesome
but i never knew they were SO RACIST
well i hope that not everyones like that at undercover.
i go to the casting because they REQUSTED me and then i go and
a japanese girl who works there sees me and says WORD TO WORD
‘SORRY WE ARE ONLY CASTING WHITE GIRLS’
and waved her hand on her face
I AM SHOCKED.
REALLY, does it sell better if u use no asians/blacks on the runway?
are you guys saying that being white is cooler and more "fashion"
than being asian or black?
so ridiculous...”
I remember Daul Kim well because when I was backstage after the Alexander McQueen SS08 show in Paris last October, camera in hand, she was one of many models still back there for up to a hour afterwards, attempting to extricate hair extensions.
Looking up at me as I walked past, through still wildly-teased hair that partially obscured her face, she gave me her best Ringu impersonation:
Kim some time later, ready to go home:
1 comments:
She was one of a kind. RIP
Post a Comment