Book Review

Butterfly – Sunghi Lee
by Kim Mizuno
★★★★★

Collectible photo book featuring Sunghi Lee in her heyday

Photographer Kim Mizuno, who’s shot many Playboy special editions, captured Playboy’s most popular Asian model of the 1990s, Sunghi Lee, in her prime for this now-rare photo book. Published in 1997, Butterfly (entitled that because of Sunghi’s nickname due to the small butterfly tattoo above her bikini line) was available in Miss Lee’s home country of Korea, at the big bookstores, but was one of those you had to ask for because it was behind the counter due of the nature of the photos. Now it’s quite a collector’s item, as it’s the only artistic nude photo book the now-retired model and later actress did. The photography covers many aspects of Sunghi’s persona, shot at some great locations such as Malibu beach and the Mojave desert. Too bad most of the pages are blank on one side, but that’s an artistic nude photo book for ya.


About the author

Chris Charles
Editor-in-Chief at Idol Features | chris@idolfeatures.com |  More Articles

Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Chris flirted with the music business there and in Nashville before joining the U.S. Army and serving in South Korea. He remained in Asia for several years afterwards, teaching English, traveling, and covering the regional entertainment scenes. A former Xanga blogger ("Xangan"), Chris is still in a mindset between Seoul and San Francisco. Besides Idol Features, you can also catch his writings in the print edition of the monthly magazine, Effective.