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Downtown

Culture, Design

Jenni Lee Changed the Sock Game — Now What?

Published on December 12, 2024 5 minutes read

Downtown

Culture, Design

Words by Jocelyn Silver, Imagery by Chandler Kennedy

To celebrate, [Jenni] wears her Downtown necklace, which she chose in Lapis Lazuli and Chalcedony semi-precious stones, like the color of a desert sky in Arizona, where she grew up.

Designer and entrepreneur Jenni Lee has always had a hankering for fine socks. Socks made from whisper-soft textiles, the kind to pull up over loafers and pair with a miniskirt. The problem? While men have always had the option to buy a variety of colorful socks, used to express personality beneath staid suits and dress shoes (consider the likes of former President George H.W. Bush, who eagerly describes himself as a “sock man”), women have traditionally had fewer options in the category.

“I was planning my outfits with socks, and realized that if I wanted a very specific shade of red in a beautiful ribbing, my only option would be to find a kind of haberdashery men's suit store and shop there,” says Lee. “But my feet are small, so they don't actually fit.” The solution? To make her own.

Comme Si, officially founded in 2019, has quickly become the mainstay — perhaps only — cool sock brand for women. Lee has infested the fashionable ecosystem with her love of socks, inspiring customers (like this writer) to think more about what comes up above their ankles. The buttery, sorbet-colored Comme Si offerings feel timeless, less coquette Lolita and more Gammarelli, the centuries-old ecclesiastical store in Rome that makes ribbed socks worn by the pope himself.

Jenni wears a Downtown necklace. Her very own combination includes Lapis Lazuli and Chalcedony semi-precious spheres.

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The collaboration was exhibited at the Richard Neutra-designed VDL House in Los Angeles.

This year, Lee launched what might be Comme Si’s most ambitious project yet: a collaboration with the Swiss furniture company USM Modular Furniture, exhibited at the Neutra VDL House in Los Angeles. “We’ve found that a lot of our customers and people who were interested in the brand were obviously fashionable, but worked in design fields,” she says. “They're interior designers, they're architects, gallerists, and curators. And so it was kind of interesting to see our early customers reflecting that. And as we grew, I actually felt like it would be really interesting to speak to that type of audience further by partnering with a furniture brand, rather than another fashion brand. So to some, it might feel random, but actually to our customers and people who know the brand, it feels like a very natural collaboration.”

Lee designed eight custom pieces for USM, all in Comme Si’s trademark soft colors and textiles (fine linen, fine Italian shirting). To celebrate, she wears her Downtown necklace, which she chose in Lapis Lazuli and Chalcedony semi-precious stones, like the color of a desert sky in Arizona, where she grew up. “The way that USM works is everything is modular,” says Lee. “So I think what I designed with them was really fun, because it's almost like working with Legos." It’s a philosophy that’s similar to the mix-and-match quality of the Downtown necklace — pieces that all work together in endlessly customizable fashion.

"We spend a lot of time thinking about color and craftsmanship at Comme Si — and that ethos was immediately recognizable when first discovering the Carolina Bucci collection," says the designer.

I originally thought about making a necklace that was all one color — either lapis or malachite — to keep it classic, but decided on a two-toned necklace in lapis and chalcedony to look a bit unconventional. I like that Lapis and chalcedony are in the same color family, just different shades.

Socks may be small, but Jenni thinks big. And she makes some very solid points about why you should care about what you put on your feet. “I would say if you're investing in really nice shoes, it doesn't make sense to wear not-nice socks with them,” she says. “They're an extension of the other thing.” And they’re just so very cute. Why can’t you dress like the pope?