Ushi Sato moved to Dubai from the Philippines in 2009 to work as an in-house designer for a local shop in Jumeirah. Soon afterwards he moved on to work for a retail company as a merchandiser and buyer. That was also when he started his fashion blog “The Shades and the Scarf,” a daily online diary which has since garnered over 10 million visits.
“I believe fashion is my true calling,” Sato enthuses who grew up in a family of tailors: his mom was a dressmaker and his dad used to be a denim tailor before he got into the automobile business. “I cannot blame him, it’s better to drive a moving machine than a sewing machine,” he laughs.
Sato’s interest in fashion began at an early age. He remembers being a little boy and taking leftover fabric from his mother to make dresses for his sisters’ dolls and using his monthly allowance to buy himself clothes. In university he jumped from subject to subject; he started off studying politics then switched to painting then nursing, before finally settling on fashion.
Sato relocated to Dubai to follow his “passion for fashion.” His highly successful blog, “The Shades and the Scarf” opened up the opportunity for him as a fashion reporter, travelling all over the world, from Paris Fashion Week to Milan Fashion Week.
Sato is excited that the fashion show invitations keep coming in. “It means that I’ve done something great with my blog and that I have been noticed.” His favorite part, he says, is attending the haute couture shows. “As a designer it’s fulfilling to witness the shows from the greatest designers before my eyes and as a blogger I feel great sitting with the most influential people in the high fashion world!”
Sato does everything from merchandising to styling to blogging, but it is designing that gives him the greatest pleasure.
“Designing something gives joy to my heart and mind, especially when it is being worn…it’s fulfilling.”
To successfully work in fashion, you need to know that you’re really into it, says Sato. He advises those interested in fashion to think carefully and find their strength. He says that the best piece of advice that he’s ever received is “Don’t do something because you want to be like someone else, but do it because it suits you best!”
You can find Ushi Sato here:
Blog: www.theshadesandscarf.com
IG: @theshadesandscarf
FB: www.facebook.com/TheShadesandScarf
Brand: www.ushisato.com
IG: @ushisato
Twitter: @ushisato
FB: www.facebook.com/ushisato
By Yara Nasif
