I recently had the pleasure of catching up with Doncel Brown and Kyana Hallacher, the visionary co-designers behind Generation Typo. Based in the DMV, these two have skillfully fused their creative talents to craft a brand that’s capturing global attention. As they prepare to showcase their work at Milan and Paris Fashion Week, join me in exploring their inspiring journey.
Property of Generation Typo
What inspired the creation of your brand? How has that initial vision shaped your journey from beginning in the DMV, to being showcased at Paris and Milan Fashion Week?
Generation Typo started out as Doncel’s personal story as a brand. Between work and family he would always hear disconnections between the different Generations. This would cause issues at work, with friends, and family. Living in the DMV he was exposed to so many different cultures and communities. This is where he realized that everyone was experiencing these generational disconnects.
We decided to use fashion to share our message, as it is the best translator of all time. Internally we refer to the brand as a translation company that uses fashion as its catalyst. We use red lines, common phrases, and a blend of fashion history to spark conversations.
We knew with a vision this powerful, the brand would do amazing things. However we never imagined it would take us to fashion week showcases like Milan & Paris. That all came from a phrase we use a lot: “Say yes and then figure the rest out later.”
For readers new to your brand, how would you describe the Generation Typo style?
Generation Typo’s style is timeless. We started with streetwear and expanded into business and runway offerings. Our goal is to make sure each generation feels catered to and important.
Pulling inspiration from different moments in fashion history, and even predicting what the future of fashion will look like. This allows us to keep our style exciting but also maintain hints of nostalgia.
We first established the brand by solely using colors black, red, and white. We are so excited to introduce a new palette of colors to add to our core colors which will be shown for the first time in our Milan and Paris shows!
Generation Typo has two co-designers. How do you synergize ideas and projects?
Finding balance within your brand and your team is key. Having two designers with complementary skill sets allows us to focus on what we do best.
Kyana has the ability to do hand drawn illustrations and has a background in fashion education. Her fashion knowledge and training directly support the development of new products.
Doncel’s abilities are based in the digital and branding spaces. He is able to take the sketches that Kyana does and turn them into realistic renders. Those renders are then applied with generation typos branding and style.
The synergy between the two produces a world class product and brand.
Fashion is a blend of innovation and tradition. How does your brand navigate this balance, ensuring that you honor fashion's heritage while introducing fresh, innovative designs?
Our brand's existence is based on innovation and tradition. So picking a medium like fashion, we are able to build authentically and still feel balanced in the process. This is why it’s so important to pick the right industry for your brand and message.
This is another reason why having co-designers is so beneficial. They are able to hold each other accountable to continued growth, while not losing the importance of history.
Property of Generation Typo
As your brand gains international attention, how do you maintain the core identity of your brand while adapting to the tastes and expectations of a global audience?
Generations as well as typos transcend borders and countries. The more people, cultures, and communities that are represented the stronger the message is. The best translators are able to take two different things and make them make sense. For Milan & Paris we pulled inspiration from their architecture, plants, and food. We mixed this with our silhouettes and styles we see in the DMV Area.Together you get a bridge from America to Europe. As people experience these collections they will understand more about each other even if it’s just the slightest bit.
To ensure we maintain access to the brand we plan on doing one of our two fashion shows each year in the DMV area. The goal is to bring resources and exposure back home.
Collaboration often leads to exciting results in fashion. Can you tell us about a memorable collaboration that significantly impacted your brand’s direction or aesthetic?
We are actually in the process of developing our very first official collaboration as a brand. Legally we aren’t able to share the names involved yet, but we can share that it is with a major brand that’s been around for more than 50 years.
This will allow us to show the power of established brands collaborating with the emerging talent that’s in the world. Everything we do has meaning behind it and this collaboration will be a new pinnacle of that.
We are so excited to share more on this as soon as we can!
With the rise of technology in fashion, how has your brand integrated tech elements, whether in the design process, presentation, or customer experience?
Having one of our designers coming from a tech background gives us a huge advantage in this space. We integrate technology into multiple areas of our brand.
In our design process we use tech like AI and digital design products to create detailed design mockups. This allows us to come up with innovative designs and reduce the amount of sampling to be more sustainable as we brand. Reducing the amount of wasted material used to create our designs, and supporting a cleaner environment.
We also utilize tech to enhance our customers' experiences with our products. We use augmented reality and custom filters to create interactive product experiences. An example of this is with our recent Virginia Bowling Shirt Release. Each shirt comes with a QR code that transfers you to a custom filter. With this filter when you point your phone camera at the back of the shirt, a hologram pops up that describes what Virginia means to us.
With your upcoming collections and projects, how do you see your brand evolving in the next few years?
Our upcoming collection is the highest quality release we’ve ever done. We see the brand and community growing as people realize it’s so much more than just a fashion brand. We are working just as hard to ensure the brand is developing as a good business as we are about the designs. As capital increases we are planning to do more in person interactions and safe spaces for conversations across different generations.
We want everyone to join in the conversation and be proud to know you bring value too.
