Cross Colours

Press

08.June.2020

How Bruno Mars' new music video is a tribute to 90s style

by: Kadeem Pilgrim

By Hannah Moore and Lola Mosanya | Originally published on BBC.com, January 5, 2018

Bruno Mars' and Cardi B's new Finesse video is a tribute to 90s hip-hop, with choreography, clothing and a sound straight from the decade.

It's dedicated to 90s sketch series In Living Color which, he says, is "one of his favourite shows of all time."

He recreated the show's hand-painted intro credits, dance routines and love for clothing brand Cross Colours.

Mars has directed the video which got 13 million views in the first 48 hours of release.

Fans, celebrities and the cast of In Living Color have also been sharing their love for it.

In it, Mr Mars rocks a striped shirt and long sleeved white tee from Cross Colours, who provided a lot of the clothes that helped give Bruno's favourite comedy its iconic look.

Designer Carl Jones launched the label from his house in Los Angeles in 1989. It became a cult brand worn by stars including Will Smith, Snoop Dogg, Tupac and TLC.

"My partner and I sat down and created this concept from a piece of African fabric. That's where all the colours originally came from," he tells Newsbeat.

"Our oversized silhouettes came from youth on the streets of New York, who were buying tops and bottoms four or five sizes bigger. This was the hip hop culture," he says.

The brand's slogan is 'clothing without prejudice', which Carl says was inspired by race riots and gang violence going on at the time.

"We just wanted people to come together," he tells us.

"It was a very colourful brand, all about mixing colours.

"Being African-American and being from the streets we thought it was important to have a social message in our brand."

It didn't take long before the message caught on and artists and TV shows wanted to be decked out by the brand.

"We had a marketing person who went and knocked on the stylist's door for The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

"Will Smith saw the product and loved it. Two or three days later and they had already included us in some of the episodes."

They were soon asked to provide wardrobe for In Living Color too.

After relaunching two years ago, Cross Colours is now being sold on the high street and was already being worn by celebs such as Drake and Chris Brown.

Carl says: "I've watched it [the music video] about five times. It's so fresh, clean and colourful."

It came as a surprise because he had no clue that his brand was going to be included.

"We never know. Our product has become a cult. It's the type of product that's sold on eBay and in vintage stores," he tells us.