Star Struck
He used his media savvy to turn a Yorkville boutique into a Hollywood retail empire. Then Fraser Ross went from courting the tabloid press to suing them By Courtney Shea
Image credit: Courtesy Getty Images
1989
Nascent retailer Fraser Ross opens Ice boutique in Yorkville—calculatedly convenient for trend-setting celebs camped at the neighbouring Four Seasons. It’s the first place in the city to peddle such Hollywood essentials as Ugg boots and Juicy sweats. To ensure regular column inches devoted to celebrity sightings at his shop, Ross keeps local gossip hounds on speed dial.
2000
Ross opens Ice sister store Kitson in L.A., just down the street from Hollywood lunch institution The Ivy. After a slow start, Kitson gets the money shot in 2002 when a photo of Halle Berry toting the boutique’s personalized “H” handbag appears in Us Weekly. Women of every initial keep the purses on back order for months, and Kitson becomes a fashion-victim magnet.
2004
Ross closes shop in Toronto to focus his retailing mojo south of the border. Kitson’s signature blue shopping bags—dangling from the arms of such starlets as Nicole Richie, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jessica Simpson—become a tabloid photo spread staple, and the store devotes a window display to Us. In turn, Ross fuels the post-Brad-and-Jen-breakup media fire with “Team Aniston” and “Team Jolie” Ts.
TEST Originally published December 2006
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