Thomai is the Course Leader for BA (Hons) Fashion Branding with Communication. She is responsible for the planning, development, monitoring and delivery of the modules across all levels. Through her leading and teaching, she seeks to create a continuous learning environment that celebrates every student’s individuality, creativity and skills.
Thomai was born and raised in Athens, Greece. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from Athens University of Economics and Business. However, her passion for fashion led her to study a Master of Science in International Fashion Marketing at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. To get a deeper understanding of the industry she has also taken classes in Fashion Illustration and Fashion Styling at Istituto di Moda Burgo and Fashion Journalism at London College of Fashion.
She has worked for Edinburgh Online Fashion Week and Misuma, a sustainable fashion brand. Before joining Leeds Arts University, Thomai taught at Universidad de Monterrey in Mexico and at University of Edinburgh. In Spring 2017, she was a guest lecturer at Lahti University of Applied Sciences in Finland. She has headed collaborative projects with Fashion Institute of Technology in NY, USA and Chanapatana International Design Institute in Bangkok, Thailand. She has also given talks and led workshops at MARCO, Museum of Contemporary Art in Monterrey, Mexico.
She has co-authored a book chapter for the publication Soft Landing called “Textile Traditions and Fashion Education in Mexico”. Her current research interests include social media as a fashion communication and promotion tool, window displays as vehicles of social commentary and diversity and inclusivity in the mainstream fashion media. Since 2011 she runs a blog called BONNE as an outlet to express her personal style.
Articles
Papathanasiou, T. (2019) ‘Window displays as vehicles of social commentary: The case of Harvey Nichols’, Bloomsbury Fashion Business Cases [online].
Book Sections
Papathanasiou, T. and Perlatti, A. (2018) ‘Textile traditions and fashion education in Mexico’, In: N. Nimkulrat, U. Raebild and A. Piper, eds., Soft Landing. Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, pp. 25-33.