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Thomai Serdari

Thomai Serdari

Joined Stern 2012

Leonard N. Stern School of Business
Tisch Hall
40 West Fourth Street, 802
New York, NY 10012

E-mail ts307@stern.nyu.edu
Personal website
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Biography

Thomai Serdari, Ph.D. is a strategist in luxury marketing and branding. She helps clients launch, grow, and successfully manage luxury brands. She is an expert on luxury and actively studies, values, and reports on companies or funds that operate and invest within the luxury goods market.

Prof. Serdari has been teaching at New York University since 2004. She has developed a variety of courses at NYU, among which: "Cultures of Excess: Product and Fashion Design through Modernity" and "Entrepreneurship in the Business of Art." She also developed the core courses for the Luxury Marketing specialization at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, MBA level: "The Core of Luxury: Processes, Products, and Strategies through History," "Luxury Branding: Brand Thinking and Experience," and "Luxury Launch: Designing & Marketing a Luxury Product/Project/Enterprise."

Originally trained as an architect at the National Technical University of Athens, Prof. Serdari received her doctorate in Art History & Archaeology from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University in 2005. She also holds an MBA from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, with a specialization in corporate and quantitative finance (2009).

Heavily drawing on her interdisciplinary training, Prof. Serdari heads Brand(x)Lux, a brand consultancy that uses critical, business and design thinking to help brands interpret culture, the questions that define it and the trends that will impact the future of business. She contributes opinion pieces to Luxury Daily and is the business editor of the first academic interdisciplinary journal on Luxury: History, Culture, Consumption published by Taylor & Francis.

Prof. Serdari is one of the main contributors to the LVMH Fundamentals in Luxury Retail: A CPC/Parsons Collaboration, an education program designed to train and provide a wide range of retail skills to Chinese-Americans.

Research Interests

  • Luxury Marketing
  • Entrepreneurship
  • New Business Models in Fashion, Art, Media, and Entertainment

Courses Taught

  • Luxury Branding
  • Luxury Launch
  • Luxury Marketing

Academic Background

M.B.A., Business Administration, 2009
NYU Stern School of Business

Ph.D., Art History and Archaeology, 2005
Institute of Fine Arts, NYU

M.A., Media Studies, 1997
The New School for Social Research

M.A., Architecture, 1994
The National Technical University of Athens

Selected Publications

Serdari, Thomai (2022)
The Role of Cultural Innovation in the Success of Luxury Startups
Journal of Strategic Change in Entrepreneurial Finance

Appointed Editor-in-Chief of Luxury (2021)
History Culture Consumption
Taylor & Francis

Serdari, Thomai (2020)
Rethinking Luxury Fashion: The Role of Cultural Intelligence in Defining Creative Strategy
New York: Palgrave Macmillan

Serdari, Thomai (2016)

Critical Luxuries: Art, Design, Media, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press

Serdari, Thomai (2015)
STEIDL: Printer, Publisher, Alchemist: The Field of Luxury Production in Germany
Luxury: History Culture Consumption, London: Taylor & Francis

Related News & Research

Populuxe: Stories of Desire

Rethinking Luxury Fashion: The Role of Cultural Intelligence in Creative Strategy

Professor Thomai Serdari suggests that magazines need to change in order to adapt to the way people spend their time and money during COVID-19

Professor Thomai Serdari explores the origins of online shopping and the changing online shopping landscape

Professor Thomai Serdari shares her reactions to the recent announcement by the United States to add an import tax to French beauty and luxury goods

Professor Thomai Serdari discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has upended the luxury retail spaceProfessor Thomai Serdari discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has upended the luxury retail space

Professor Thomai Serdari is quoted in an article exploring whether the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating an already-rapid decline in print advertising

Professor Thomai Serdari discusses why e-commerce is not a guarantee of a seamless shopping experience

Professor Thomai Serdari is quoted in a story exploring how J. Crew's bankruptcy filing may set the stage for a 'shakeout' in retail

Professor Thomai Serdari warns that the retail industry could experience a slow rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, explaining that consumers are likely to remain wary of congregating in stores once restrictions are lifted

Professor Thomai Serdari comments on Bulgari Hotels and Resorts' new digital video series connecting its global workforce to customers who are facing lockdown restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic

Professor Thomai Serdari's comments on the future mindset of fashion consumers are spotlighted

Professor Thomai Serdari offers her perspective on how the tendencies of consumers might change after the coronavirus pandemic eases

Professor Thomai Serdari is quoted in a story examining the future of department stores in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak

Professor Thomai Serdari discusses how Dior's campaign around the J’Adore perfume reinforces its relationship with the flower farmers in the Grasse area

Professor Thomai Serdari weighs in on consumer demand for retail products in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic

Professor Thomai Serdari is quoted in a story examining the sustainability challenges associated with selling apparel online

Professor Thomai Serdari explains how fashion brands must adapt to changing consumer preferences and concerns about sustainability

Professor Thomai Serdari is quoted in a story probing the business case for fashion shows in 2020

Professor Thomai Serdari comments on how off-price retailers are impacted by a growing consumer desire for sustainability

Areas of Expertise

Industry

  • Art
  • Luxury Goods

Marketing

  • Advertising/Marketing/PR Strategies
  • Social Media