By Lora Hlavsa

Although Macalester has students from every corner of the globe, not many call Hawaii their home. Reid Sato ’14, is one of the few. The Honolulu native made the journey from his tropical island home to Macalester’s snowy tundra just over one year ago to study Japanese. This week, Reid reveals the truth about Hawaiian fashion, dishes on Lady Gaga, and how to dress for tonight’s Winter Ball. How does being from Hawaii affect how you dress? I don’t really dress like everyone from back home. I think part of the reason is that I don’t go to the beach as much as everyone else does. I’ve always been influenced by outside things because we’re so isolated. In terms of cultural fashion, I don’t follow it. It’s pretty much what everyone imagines: aloha shirts, a lei, a straw hat and shorts. I shy away from that. All my friends dress very relaxed and laid back, and that’s never been me. Do you travel to Japan a fair amount? Yeah. My dad does some work there, so I used to go every year and see the clothes there. Every time I go there I try to pick up a new piece. Whenever I travel I have a list of things that I look for, and there’s always a splurge item. That splurge item is always something that I’d never wear, but it’s trendy. As a musician, do you find that you have to dress differently for the stage? In a way, yes. I try to stand out and yet I don’t. I do have “performance wear,” where I buy things specifically for the purpose of wearing it when I perform. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t want to stand out, but my intent isn’t really to stand out. I guess you could say that I have been bitten by the Lady Gaga effect, if you will. Usually when I perform I try to wear black a lot. Black is my favorite color to wear. You can never go wrong with it. Do you think that you follow Japanese or American trends more? I do try to emulate Japanese fashion a little more because you can’t find it here. Going back to your standing out question, I guess I do try to stand out. I think that’s my angle, but I just came back from New York this weekend, and I do take note of that fashion hub, too. It’s one of those things where wherever you go, you always notice something. I try to take something from everywhere. What’s your idea for the perfect men’s and women’s outfits for Winter Ball? I think a consistent palate. Matching can be kind of hard. I think the problem for a lot of people is that they have the clothes, but they don’t know what goes with what. I think the best thing to do is to approach it simply. You can never go wrong with darker colors, especially since it’s winter. You don’t want to be showing up in a bright yellow shirt. I think Winter Ball should be an easier thing to do because it’s fall. Don’t try too hard.