Jaramay Aref, 312 11th Ave, Apt 36F, New York, NY 10001, US

KAUFMANFRANCO The New Sensualists The collaboration between designers Ken Kaufman and Isaac Franco is marked by an often unspoken, always intense, creative dialogue. As a design team, Kaufman and Franco have shared a unique fashion trajectory - from designing for Valentino in Rome, to helming the Ungaro initiative in the U.S., to overseeing the entire scope of product at Anne Klein as co-creative directors - before establishing KAUFMANFRANCO in the fall of 2004. KAUFMANFRANCO's mix of sophistication and edge, luxury and function, handcrafted and high-tech offers up a body conscious sensuality as complex and provocative as the modern woman they dress. "Although our aesthetic is trained in a similar way, interestingly enough, it is always the tension between us that pushes us creatively, " says Franco. This combustible mix of the raw and the refined, the spontaneous and the controlled, produces heat and balance, imbuing their work with a visceral energy. Simplicity is a unifying element of the KAUFMANFRANCO brand. Franco comments, "We deliver clothes that are deceptively understated, but when you take a closer look at them, they are actually quite complex, not based on decoration but on the cut, fabric and meticulous detailing." Kaufman adds, " This detailing continues from the outside in, manipulating the construction of each garment in order to create an inside-out sexiness."

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