Visual Excellence

Linda Fargo, vp of visual merchandising for Bergdorf Goodman (New York), was named the 2001 winner of the Markopoulos Award, honoring visual merchandising and store design excellence. The award – named for Andrew Markopoulos, long-time vm executive and retired senior vp of Target Corp.'s department store division – is bestowed annually at GlobalShop in Chicago last week.

Fargo has been with Bergdorf's since 1996. She entered the industry at Macy's (New York), rising from staff level to window decorator and becoming director of vm for the retailer's Herald Square store. She next went to San Francisco, first as vp of visual for I. Magnin's flagship store, next as director of visual presentation for The Gap.

Markopoulos, whose 45-year career included stints at Macy's and Gimbel's, retired in 1997. He died in 1999. He was presented with the initial award at a banquet in his honor at GlobalShop in 1996. Subsequent recipients have been Ignaz Gorischek of Neiman Marcus, Tony Mancini of Walt Disney, Judy Bell of Target and James Mansour of Mansour Design.