Dawn Mello, who elevated Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-Seventies through the Eighties into one of the world’s most luxurious emporiums, and revived Gucci in the Nineties, died Sunday morning at her home in New York.
Mello, who died of natural causes, was 88, according to her longtime friend and associate Myra Hackel.
A rare blend of grace, power and vision, Mello had an uncanny knack for spotting and nurturing design talent, reviving brands to fashion prominence and succeeding in a male-dominated retail industry. Teaming at Bergdorf’s with the late Ira Neimark and subsequently teaming with Tom Ford at Gucci proved to be winning formulas.
Aside from her success at Bergdorf’s and Gucci, Mello encouraged and nurtured Donna Karan, Michael Kors, Claude Montana, Azzedine Alaia, Christian Lacroix, Ford and others before they achieved fashion stardom. She was also an adviser to Jo Malone, Linda Fargo and Joe Cicio, among others.
 

Dawn Mello and Michael Kors 
Dimitrios Kambouris/FNS/REX/Shutterstock

“She possessed an amazing ability to identify extraordinary talent at every turn,” said Cicio, the retail veteran and close friend to Mello. “What was so impressive was that her talent was not restricted to fashion designers alone. She instinctively knew our business so well that she could advise and often

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