Some costumes have that one item that pulls the whole look together. For a cosplayer, identifying this can be crucial – without it, the outfit will never look right, but with the right piece, many “inaccuracies” can be overlooked.
For Crowley cosplayers, that item is his sunglasses.
Even with a nice pair of contacts, Crowley just isn’t Crowley without his signature sunglasses.
The originals are a pair of women’s frames made by Valentino, the VA2003 in gunmetal. These are easily recognizable by their iconic side shield (hiding Crowley’s demon eyes from the side as well as the front), but on closer inspection, the discerning cosplayer might begin to have some questions about the glasses used on screen.
Naturally, the Valentino logo engraved on the side has been removed from the screen worn sunglasses (common for TV and film production), covered now by a small metal piece.
Observant viewers might also notice, however, that there are silver fasteners poking out of the front of Crowley’s sunglasses… but not the Valentinos. While the Valentinos do fasten through the lens, they are screwed in from the back, actually with small black screws that are not long enough to pull out and refasten from the front. Not only this, but high res images of the TV glasses on display show that they are fastened not with traditional screws, but with a kind of couture hex-head bolt.
This is a bit odd, obviously. But on closer inspection, they’re not the only cosmetic alteration to the glasses that aren’t logo-related. The screen worn sunglasses also feature these darker, almost purple-hued lenses. The Valentinos, you will notice, are green.
As far as I can surmise, the gunmetal VA2003 was only offered with a green lens. Apparently, the costume department custom ordered darker lenses for the sunglasses (made in-house, I would guess), and when they swapped out the green lenses, refastened them from the front with bolts. It’s not clear why this change was made – maybe the green looked odd on screen – but it does present “screen accurate” cosplayers with a bit of a conundrum, since the SA sunglasses, well, aren’t quite screen accurate.
I myself am a proud owner of an original pair of Valentino VA2003s, and wasn’t quite sure what to do about this issue. I did purchase some silver screws to replace my original hardware, but there didn’t seem to be a way around the lens color.
Then came Magnoli Clothiers.
Magnoli and I have been in contact much over the years, consulting on various projects and testing the waters on others. Before I even had the gunmetal originals in hand, I had a pair of VA2003s in gold and had reached out to him about a replication project. While working on the replicas, I came into ownership of the proper gunmetal frames, and I knew that Magnoli’s contribution would become invaluable to Crowley cosplayers – we could fix the “issues” that came with owning an original pair.
The final sunglasses have arrived, and I am very pleased with how they stack up against the originals.
The most striking thing about the Magnoli Clothiers replicas is the far more accurate lens color. Just that alone is worth the price of picking them up, even for a cosplayer with originals.
Having had originals to work with, the shapes are excellently matched, even down to the lattice on the shields. The faux “metal bar to block out the logo” is a cute detail as well.
On a slight downside, the metal chosen for the frames has a slightly warmer overall hue than the very cold originals – another detail you are only likely to notice by putting both pairs directly next to each other.
On the other hand, Magnoli’s lenses, along with being the correct color, also come screwed in correctly from the factory with the same kind of hex-head bolt as the TV pairs. My Valentinos will never quite achieve this effect.
The screw positioning on the lenses is not an exact 1:1 placement, but very near – certainly near enough that even someone (like myself) who is very familiar with the originals would only be able to tell be placing the two directly next to each other.
The temple tips are finished with a small pyramid-shaped gem – a lovely touch on a replica like this, despite it having no chance of being seen while worn.
Overall, the glasses are truly a boon for all Crowley cosplayers. If you want to invest in something that will really make your cosplay pop, you cannot beat these sunglasses.
The actual quality of the sunglasses themselves also deserves a shout out here. These are a sturdy pair of glasses that come in a great case, definitely a high quality product that will last you a very long time if you treat them right – and much cheaper (and easier!) than turning up a vintage pair of designer shades!
So, for all those discerning Crowley cosplayers looking for that piece to lock in the aesthetic, Magnoli has your back on this one. I cannot recommend these sunglasses more – I will probably wear them to cons and photoshoots if only for that SA lens color!
Magnoli Clothiers’ Crowley Sunglasses are available here!
The Ginger Doctor 
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On Mon, Mar 28, 2022 at 3:46 AM The Ginger Doctor wrote:
> Alex posted: ” Some costumes have that one item that pulls the whole look > together. For a cosplayer, identifying this can be crucial – without it, > the outfit will never look right, but with the right piece, many > “inaccuracies” can be overlooked. For Crowley cosplaye” >
I’m not sure I can do that, you will probably have to unsubscribe under your own address and resubscribe under the address you want