Winchester School of Art offers a range of opportunities for the postgraduate study of luxury, including MA and PhD programmes.
Postgraduate taught and research students have the opportunity to engage with leading experts in luxury and related fields. All of the academics who teach and supervise our postgraduate students are also engaged in Luxury research of their own.
Postgraduate Research
Members of the Winchester Luxury Research Group welcome proposals for MPhil/PhD in the field of Luxury. In particular, we welcome proposals that relate to and build upon our current research interests and projects.
Winchester School of Art offers an interdisciplinary, research-led environment for full- and part-time postgraduate research students.
Research degree proposals could relate to:
Fine Art
Graphic Arts
Media
Fashion
Textiles
Luxury Art, Culture, Design, Fashion or Media Management
As part of a vibrant research-intensive University, cross-disciplinary engagement is encouraged and many of our PhD students extend their research across academic disciplines and collaborate with researchers in related areas of the creative arts, and in fields as diverse as archaeology, psychology, biomedical sciences, nanoscience, social sciences and sound engineering.
Click here for more information on research degrees and the application process.
Current PhD Students and their Projects:
Lucy Hitchcock - Post-Global Luxury? – (Re)defining Ideas of Luxury
Technology and cultural globalization have fundamentally changed how we see and value luxury. Today, luxury serves a global audience, not merely an aristocratic world. Yet, luxury remains fundamental to social order. My PhD research reassesses the meaning of luxury within the creation of contemporary society, evaluating it beyond the scope of Western thought.
Debbie Pinder - Luxury Brand Identity: The case of the airport luxury store.
My PhD research is a study of brand identity strategies adopted by luxury brands in airports and their affect on consumer behaviour. The purpose of the research is to explore luxury brand identity management methods created by both luxury brands and airport authorities, and to consider their impact on consumers. Consequently, the research focuses on luxury stores in the airport.
MA Luxury Brand Management
The MA Luxury Brand Management at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, provides a programme in which you can develop your skills and knowledge in your field of interest. The programme equips you with both the practical skills and the intellectual framework, appropriate to your specialism, to allow you to work competently at a master's level. It provides you with the tools to engage with your field, to take part in current debates regarding the issues influencing it and to judge your own outcomes within this context.
Luxury brands are one of the fastest growing areas of global business. This course is designed to provide participants with the theoretical knowledge and practical skills required to succeed in the management of complex, luxury brands. It develops an appreciation of how luxury brands have evolved over time and place, and introduces the material, symbolic and experiential dimensions of luxury.
Building upon the principles of creating and developing luxury brands the course explores a range of premium industries including fashion, perfume and jewellery, the finest hotels and exclusive clubs, yachts and high-end automobiles.
The course provides a comprehensive grounding in luxury brand equity, portfolios, co-branding, brand extensions and the management of brand heritage, and culminates in the strategic management of the business of luxury. The course also covers the principles of marketing luxury brands, as well as developing understanding of the luxury consumer markets, equipping you with the knowledge to develop and understand the unique nature of luxury brands.
Click here for more information on the course.