There is a green jacket in the corner of Stuart Lawrence’s room that belonged to his murdered older brother Stephen. It’s from the iconic 90s hip-hop brand Cross Colours, behind the multicoloured shirts famously worn by Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Stuart holds it up to his webcam, so I can read it. The label says: “Post Hip Hop Nation, Academic Hard Wear.”
It was so like Stephen to have an item of clothing from the cult hip-hop label, he says. Stephen was his handsome, cool, older brother; the person Stuart looked up to, and occasionally resented for his easy charm. “The jacket was one of the pieces he was most proud of getting,” says Stuart. “He always had the coolest clothes, always had his finger on the pulse of what everyone was wearing.”
