Local Fashion Star Chrisa Pappas on How to Edit Your Closet

Photo Credit: Francisco Chavira

Chrisa Pappas isn’t your average fashion blogger. She doesn’t live in a global fashion city like New York, Paris, or Milan. In fact, she doesn’t even live in San Francisco—she lives in Sacramento. She didn’t study fashion as a student, instead the mother of two got a degree in architecture from Boston University. She doesn’t have an ‘Instagram husband,’ but rather a professional photographer who snaps gorgeous clear images for her Instagram account. She doesn’t have posts sponsored by certain brands—she shares clothing and accessories that she owns personally. All of these things make Pappas one of the most original, authentic, and unique fashion bloggers out there. We’re not the only people who have taken notice. She has almost 30,000 followers and has been invited to major fashion events such as the Dior Cruise Collection debut in the Santa Monica Mountains, Paris Fashion Week, and the Louis Vuitton Cruise show in Rio de Janeiro.

She’s also turned her passion for fashion into a lucrative business. Pappas’ website has a boutique where fans, friends, and family members can shop for pieces from Pappas’ personal collection of clothing. Since the venture is relatively new, the assortment of accessories, dresses, jackets, tops, and more is extensive. Once Pappas has sold the bulk of her extended closet (she donates a portion to local charities), she plans on doing monthly flash sales with a special selection of 10-20 prized pieces. Until then, she’s selling Hermes bags, Chanel coats, and Oscar de la Renta gowns. Fashion lovers can shop online or meet Pappas in person at one of her events, so be sure to check out her goods soon.

Photo Credit: Francisco Chavira

Pappas recently hosted a sale at de Gourney, has one planned for later this month in downtown SF, and is throwing a trend event at Neiman Marcus Walnut Creek on Wednesday, June 21 where she’s sharing her fashion tips and will participate in a Q&A. Speaking of Q&As, we recently sat down with Pappas to learn her secrets for perfecting the home closet edit. Here’s how she decides what to keep, what to store, and what to sell.

Clean out your closet at least twice a year—whenever it starts to feel overly full.

“When I know I can’t squeeze another shirt in—I can’t squeeze another hanger in there—that’s how I know it’s time to clear out.”

Make sure you have plenty of space to organize the clothing.

“What I do is I bring in a clothing rack. It’s important to have space to see things.”

Photo Credit: Francisco Chavira

Go through the closet piece by piece.

“Anything that I’m questioning, anything that I’ve worn a lot or maybe have never worn at all, anything that has been in my closet for a while. I’ll put it on the clothing rack. That’s my first step. Then I’ll roll the clothing rack out into a separate room in my house.”

Once you’ve separated out the pieces reevaluate your closet.

“I’ll go back in my closet and take one last look. If everything looks good, I just make sure there aren’t anymore pieces that maybe I’m on the fence about.”

Let the clothing marinate.

“Take a step back. I usually wait for about a week. I leave the clothing rack in another room for about a week and then if I haven’t missed any of those pieces, I know that they’re probably pretty good to get rid of.”

Photo Credit: Francisco Chavira

Sort the clothes you’re getting rid of. Decide which pieces should be sold and which should be given away.

“The pieces that I think have a value in second hand, in the pre-owned universe, I try to sell. I put them on my website and maybe someone online can purchase them. I try to get it so that it has more than one life. Whether is a Chanel suit or a Hermes bag, I enjoy it when I see other people wearing my things and I feel like it gives it more use, more life—it makes me happy. Whatever I think doesn’t have a resale value, I’ll send to family in Greece.  If something’s worn too much then it’s probably something that I would donate to maybe Goodwill. There’s three or four different avenues that you can recycle your clothes now.”

Don’t forget to preserve meaningful items.

“The pieces that I like to archive are things that I am absolutely madly in love with and couldn’t part with them. There are pieces that are works of art. An example is this Dior constellation skirt that’s a navy toile skirt and it’s got hand embroidered constellations all over it. It’s just gorgeous. That’s something I hope to wear again in the future and I hope my daughter would want to wear it in 15, 20 years.”

To join Chrisa on her fashion journey and shop her closet, follow her on Instagram.