Ross Kiefer, fashion-forward clothier for 1970s Minneapolis, dies at 76

Halston.

Warren Beatty.

French new wave actor Jean Paul Belmondo.

The Fonz.

Ross Kiefer's friends and family freely compare him to just about every 1970s arbiter of male panache.

"If there was a Minneapolis answer to Playboy magazine, it would be Ross," said cousin Bob Kiefer.

Ross Kiefer, who turned his name into a symbol of style for Minneapolis with his downtown clothing store I. Ross, died in Hopkins Nov. 6 at the age of 76. The cause was pneumonia after a battle with dementia, loved ones said.

"His store downtown was hopelessly hip for flyover country. It's where cool musicians and Vikings shopped," said Star Tribune music critic Jon Bream.

For a better part of the decade, the purple-walled shop traded in the signature fashions of the time: bell bottoms, platform shoes, cordovan wing tips, Gant button-down shirts and Corbin trousers.

Al Jarreau was a shopper there. Ralph Lauren spent his early fashion career pitching bow ties to Kiefer for the store, then slept on Kiefer's sofa.

"On Saturday afternoons, the store was filled to capacity," said Wendy Nathanson, a one-time girlfriend who managed the store for Kiefer. "Every night was a party."

Even while he was growing up in north Minneapolis, Kiefer had a reputation across the Twin Cities as a hip heartthrob. About 6-foot-2 with dark hair, olive skin and big brown "bedroom" eyes, he was many girls' first crush, friends said.

"He was the kind of guy that guys wanted to be like and women wanted to date," said younger cousin David Wolfenson.

But Kiefer's first love was clothing. "He was always into it," said Nathanson. "And I. Ross was his dream."

Fashion was in Kiefer's genealogy.

Several family members worked at luxury retailers downtown, including his father Paul, who worked at Justers, and a cousin who owned Sims. Kiefer absorbed their fashion knowledge.

"He was the first one to dress with button-down collars, ties and navy blue suits," Bob Kiefer said. "He was always the best dressed guy wherever he went. And the best looking."

"He would always be sending me care packages full of clothes, shirts, jackets, shoes, you name it," said Louis Reiter, a childhood friend and former brother-in-law. "I was the recipient of his talents."

I. Ross expanded to Southdale, but Kiefer's work took him away from the Twin Cities. A job at Wilsons Leather allowed him to travel the world and outfit A-list rock stars. His downtown store closed in the late 1970s.

After stints living in Chicago, Texas and California, Kiefer returned to the Twin Cities, where he eventually entered assisted living last year.

"Ross had dreams in the sky," said Nathanson, who stayed in touch with Kiefer until the end of his life. "He just wanted everything."