Why My Refugee Roots Make Me Passionate About Style & Why I Never Buy Anything From a Fruit Stand That Sells Bananas
Do you have a style story? If you did, you might have a strong conviction of why you wear what you wear. I share my journey and invite you to think of your own, as style is more than mere clothes.
Radiant greetings to you!
🍌🍌🍌It occurred to me today (Monday, really) that I never buy ANYTHING from a fruit stand that sells bananas.
I instinctively don’t trust the farmer’s markets that try to sell bananas. Do you know why?
Even when I lived in Hotlanta, Georgia, I knew bananas with the Dole or Chiquita stickers didn’t grow in Georgia. So if a fruit stand is selling basic grocery store bananas just to have a full fruit line-up, it makes everything else look less authentic, like basic grocery store fruit, not the special, local fruit we all want from a fruit stand.
So, is authenticity important to you? It is very important to me. I’m taking the time to hone in on what special content I want to present to the world here on this publication, rather than just trying to have a full line-up of generic content. I want it to be special for you. I want it to be highly desired.
I don’t buy anything at a fruit stand that sells bananas. 🍌🍌🍌But I do make sure what I send you is from my heart and something that will hopefully encourage you to give your style that extra bit of time and thought.
Enjoy today’s authentic content!
~Tatyana
Light Loves Color, by Tatyana Wilson, Ed.S. is a weekly reader-supported publication based on the authentic and empowering teachings of The Image Architect, Sandy Dumont, and 4+ decades of research and 16,000+ color analysis sessions. We just really believe in this stuff. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to support the work.
You will find the “shoppable” versions of these looks at the bottom of the page.
Anti-aging colors: I’m 45 years old and have 4 kids. I like anti-aging creams and color-correcting lotions—a lot—but one thing that I also do is wear the colors that make my skin glow and look smooth. Check out the difference: My worst color vs. my best color.
Email me if you can’t tell which color makes me look splotchy and a little bit jarring.
Flattering Capsule Wardrobe Basics: Did you know that white is just another neutral? As long as the sun is sunning and it’s not muddy out there, go ahead and wear it. The whole “No white after Labor Day” thing is dead and I love it. This includes shoes! I love these white braided loafers from Veronica Beard. I have the Navy ones and the white ones are on sale (so tempted). I include a white denim peplum jacket and white straight-leg jeans from a sustainable brand. The blue chunky knit short-sleeve is perfect for some texture and layering under a jacket.
Impactful Accessories: It’s so easy to put on a pair of earrings and a bracelet. Just do it. Make sure you’re not wearing wimpy little baby earrings, though. Make them count!
From Refugee Girl to Authentic Style Empowerment Coach: My Journey to Purposeful Fashion
For my eighth birthday, I received a gift that changed how I saw myself—an enchanting royal blue satin dress with bell sleeves, a sash, and tiny white polka-dots, you know, those French little ones? It made me feel alive. My mom knew that instinctively my favorite color was blue, and thankfully she was able to find such a beautiful dress for me. I would twirl for hours, loving the feeling of the circle skirt swirling around me. That dress was more than fabric; it was confidence, joy, and a rare moment of magic in my young life.
Growing up in Soviet Estonia, where my family lived until I was 10, that dress was such a special memory for me. The rest of my wardrobe was simple—everything fit into one drawer. I wore the same school uniform every day: a navy vest with a navy and burgundy plaid skirt, navy tights, and practical brown T-strap loafers. There wasn’t room for frivolous fashion, and we certainly didn’t have walk-in closets. We had necessities, sometimes a little less.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, we left Estonia, and our lives changed drastically. My family sold everything—our car, our belongings—leaving us with just a few suitcases to take across the vast ocean. We immigrated to the U.S. as refugees. Having renounced our citizenship, we were indeed without a country. That experience would shape me in ways I wouldn’t fully understand until much later.
For one thing, a feeling of never having enough or never being good enough plagued me for years. Like many of you, I felt the pressure to prove myself—to look a certain way, to fit into society’s mold. But no matter how much I tried to keep up with trends, I never felt like I belonged. Fashion, at times, felt like a tool to measure our worth. The worst part was that the “worth”—like the latest “it garment”—was always just a little out of reach.
That experience stayed with me. When I began my career as a style coach after leaving the teaching profession. I felt pulled toward empowering people to see themselves differently, to game the system, so to speak.
In 2007, I found Sandy Dumont, The Image Architect, whose work in image consulting, and specifically, biologically correct color analysis, was unique. It separated her from other image consultants. Her technical breakdowns of each component of personal styling convinced me I wanted to learn everything I could from her and that I wanted to take her very extensive in-person certification courses. What I learned about color and empowering personal style made a huge impact on how I dress and how I view clothing to this day.
After her passing, I was honored to take on her legacy and to continue her teachings about biologically correct colors, flattering silhouettes, and the power of thoughtful fashion. But something changed for me when I started looking deeper into the fashion industry. I saw the waste, the environmental destruction, and the exploitation of workers—mostly women of color in developing countries—who were paying the price for fast fashion’s cheap thrills. Suddenly, I was frozen.
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"Light is the first element of design; without it, there is no color, form, or texture."
Thomas E. Farin
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How could I, in good conscience, encourage people to buy clothes without recognizing the cost beyond the price tag? I realized I never wanted to be your typical influencer.
I don’t want to be a part of that cycle of consumption. I don’t want to tell you to buy more just to scratch the itch of a dopamine rush. And yet, I understand—clothing is a powerful form of self-expression. It can give you confidence, self-respect, and the ability to command attention in a world that often overlooks us. But we can’t ignore the impact it has on the planet or the people behind the clothes.
So, what are we to do? I know well the pain of feeling inadequate, like you always need more to be enough. I also know the exploitation that happens to make these cheap trends available.
The answer isn’t to stop buying entirely. The answer is to be strategic!
I was a little girl who got a chance to wear a beautiful blue dress, who got the chance to come to the land of opportunity and do whatever she wanted to with her life. I never had to work in a garment factory or fear for my life the way so many women do around the world. With how much lip service we give to gender and racial equality, both fashion influencers and brands should at least acknowledge that 80% of garment workers are women of color who face dangerous conditions, long hours, and abuse just to survive. I think about their stories too.
That’s why I’m committed to a new kind of fashion—a thoughtful, sustainable, empowering kind of fashion. One that starts with biologically correct colors that bring out your natural beauty, well-tailored clothes that honor your body, and pieces that make you feel confident without needing to chase every new trend. Win-win fashion.
I always say it: “Fashion should serve you, not the other way around.”
I don’t want to exploit vulnerable people across the world for cheap clothes that will be discarded in a few months. I don’t want you to feel like you’re insufficient unless you buy into the latest trends. You deserve better. This is why Light Loves Color is committed to thoughtful, authentic, empowering personal style that is also good for humanity and the earth. Thanks for being with me on this journey. There’s a lot to learn and a lot to process when we decide to turn things on their heads. I appreciate you.
Large patterns suggest that you are larger, but small patterns do not always suggest that you are smaller.
Simply put, large prints or patterns make you look larger. The trends for larger flowers, geometric shapes, and various designs can come and go, but they always do one thing: expand us.
Why does it work that way? When our eyes look at things that look busy or have patterns, they send a message to our brain that says something like, “That’s a lot going on there!” The brain, being the efficient genius it is then assumes that must be pretty big.
The larger the patterns, the more this is likely to seem “large” to our brain, but unless the pattern is very tiny and conservative, even smaller patterns can have the same effect just by the sheer business of it all. So, beware of too many patterns, especially in parts you want to “shrink”.
Shoppable Links:
Click on the images below to get shopping ideas for the two looks of the week with Pinterest AI.
