Legacy, purpose, bloodline, innovation, heritage, humility are just a few words that embody the spirit of fashion collection, New Broom Sweep Clean But Old Broom Get Corners produced by Seón Wine. Fashion Designer Tia Wine, founder and owner of the brand, teamed up with Documentary Photographer, Rose Smith, Fashion Photographer, Christian Cody and Videographer, Tyler McClelland to create a body of work that mirrors her soul.
The visual identity of the collection depicts the beauty for ashes concept, the ability to transform what is deemed dark and ugly into something alluring and exquisite. The fabrics are inexpensive and often overlooked in high-fashion work. Tia used cotton, fleece and burlap to build beautiful asymmetrical gowns, one pieces, long-trailing layered skirts, oversized pants and jackets with frayed hems that read royalty. The collection also includes silk garments that further emphasize the contrast of the beautiful and the unappealing. Braided, tied and knitted strings of rope serve as an overlay to most of the pieces. Earth hues of forest green, wine reds, chocolate brown, champagne, indigo and a collage of other rich muted palettes are strategic to the roots of the collection’s story.
Photos by Christian Cody
New Broom Sweep Clean But Old Broom Get Corners, with a name that breathes the dialect of slaves and materials and construction that allude to the 1800’s, there is no doubt the work is reaching into history and placing it into the center of our time. So what could be more beautiful, more powerful and more fulfilling than the stand-alone pieces? The process, the journey, the blood involved.
“I began making notes of what my grandmother would say to me from adolescence to now. I asked her to make as many notes on sayings that were said to her as a child from my great grandmother. As we both wrote out theses sayings one in particular stood out the most, a Gullah proverb that states, “New broom sweep clean but old broom gets corners”; I decided to use this quote as my collections name.” -Tia Wine
The idiom lets us know that not only should we not forget about where we came from, but also we must apply it to our very being as we navigate through life. For it is our heritage, that acts as the stitching to our identities.
Photos by Rose Smith
Tia and her team of creative and invested friends went to Charleston, South Carolina to spend time with her family and to better understand the depth of the project. Rose captured touching documentary shots of the work, while Christian shot stunning editorials—all taken at Mcleod Plantation and the church Tia grew up in, Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church. Tyler encapsulated every moment to tell a story of growth, love, black kinship and power. Watch the full video here.
The project is more than a fashion collection, it is a story of a child’s evolution and a loud homage to our grandmothers, great grandmothers, grandfathers, great grandfathers. New Broom Sweep Clean But Old Broom Get Corners teaches our generation that we must live our lives in their honor—we must make them proud.
Experience it all for yourself, New Broom Sweep Clean But Old Broom Get Corners, will be showing at Tila Studios, 2835 Church Street, East Point, GA 30344, until June 30th.
See the full story and more work from Tia Wine on seonwine.com. You can also follow her on Instagram @seonwine.
