Craft Your Own Joker Halloween Costume

If anything has a death-grip on the popularity of a Halloween costume, it's Hollywood. This year, if Hollywood has anything to do or say about it, costumes will likely abound with roots in the Dark Knight franchise. At the top of the list rest not the Dark Knight himself, but his arch nemesis: the Joker. Heath Ledger's show-stopping performance as the classic DC Universe villain has emblazoned the image of that eerie smiling face on the minds of almost everyone who saw the film. It's an image we're likely to see much more of this Halloween, and with a little help, you can be one of those who bear it! I talked to Louis Aquiler, a true Batman aficionado, for tips on creating a realistic Joker costume. Aquiler was featured in an August Entertainment Weekly article when, for the first midnight premiere of The Dark Knight in Manhattan, he showed up in full Joker regalia. This article, with his tips, is sure to give you the most realistic Joker-look you can hope for this Halloween.

Dressing the Part

The basics of a great Joker costume are your clothes. The color purple will be essential to any costume. For a Dark Knight Joker look, you'll want to work with as much purple and green as you can. Search your local thrift stores-such as Goodwill or the Salvation Army-for any purple clothes. The best would be a purple suit jacket and purple pants. According to Aquiler, Ebay could prove "extremely helpful in finding a good blueish/purpleish shirt and green vest." Another potential deal-breaker would be a pair of purple gloves; go for these if you can't find your purple suit jacket.

Remember, no matter how zany the Joker appears as a person, he is always a stylish dresser. That means real clothes are pretty essential . . . especially if you plan on taking your costume as seriously as Louis Aquiler.
"Having real clothing is of utmost importance," Aquiler said. "Buy any pieces in a pre-packaged costume will yield very fake-looking results. To look like the real deal, you have to hunt down real clothing, even if they're not exactly like the pieces in the film."

Tailored suits and a crisp trench jacket make good starting points for your costume. To jazz it up a bit, search for some plaid or striped suit pants, particularly any with green and purple. Search for a green vest to really pull your outfit together. If you can't find a purple suit, go for any nice suit; accessorize with a purple tie, purple hat, purple scarf, and/or purple gloves.

"Clothing-wise," said Aquiler, "I looked for ladies' purple gloves, and I found a women's purple coat on Ebay and had a tailor extend the sleeves."

If you haven't already thought it by now, let me spell it out for you: the suit look isn't easy. Fortunately, The Dark Knight gives you a few more options as far as clothes go. For example, in one scene in the film, the Joker appears to wear a green vest and tie over a blue dress shirt. The Joker also wears both a police and nurse's uniform. Thrift and vintage stores often have old uniforms in stock. You can also go for a set of white doctor's scrubs, in lieu of the nurse's uniform. Whichever outfit you chose, remember to add at least one purple accent.

Putting on a Good Face

The clothes are the hard part; the face paint, according to Aquiler, is "the most important thing."
"Basically, if you're doing a TDK-inspired Joker, the most important thing is the makeup," Aquiler advises. "It has to look sloppy, uneven, and lay it on thick."

In many Batman series, the Joker bears a completely white face with red mouth paint and green hair. In The Dark Knight, the make-up is much grittier. Buy yourself a good set of face paints. Use your hands to smear white paint over your face; test the paint on a small area of your skin to make sure you won't have an allergic reaction. When you apply the paint, don't worry about complete coverage. In fact, the rougher your look the better. Try applying white paint over your entire face and using a damp cloth or paper towel to smudge and blot away a bit of the paint. Aquiler also suggests using a Q-tip to remove some make-up in lines across the forehead, as well as "from the nose to mouth to make it look like [you've] been wearing it a really long time and sweating through it."

Create a sloppy smile with red paint; use only a slight amount, and blot it away a bit with a cloth to create Ledger's Joker look of a half-faded paint job. Use black paint to make rings around your eyes; blot this with a little water to let it blend with the other paint, and let some water drip down below your eyes so the paint runs (if you can tear up a little, that would be even better, so the running would be more natural). Use black eyeliner to create a darker look around your eyelids.

As for the green hair, how you achieve it will depend on your boldness. If you're really ready to "introduce a little anarchy," invest in some green hair dye or spray. You can probably find the spray at your local Target; you may have to hunt for green hair dye. If you're not quite ready to take the plunge of actually changing your hair color, head to a nearby costume shop or Hot Topic and invest in a green wig. You can also invest in a red wig, to go along with your nurse's uniform if you go for the Joker-nurse look.

Remember, becoming the Joker is all about the little touches. Add purple accents to whatever costume you chose; green touches, such as scarves or ties, work as well. Heath Ledger's Joker also always carried a knife; that's not a wise thing to tote around with you on Halloween night, so try a plastic knife, a plastic toy gun (with a clear marker it's fake, like an orange tip on the barrel), a box of Joker cards, etc. Aquiler took his look all the way from head to toe! He said he bought "colorful, checkered hand-warmers" at Hot Topic and wore them on his feet for socks. They looked, in his-and others'-opinion, "extremely accurate." Don't forget to put a smile on that face, and remember: "Whatever doesn't kill you only makes you . . . stranger."

Special Thanks

Special thanks go out to Louis Aquiler for his invaluable help with this article. To read up on more of his-- and other Batman fans'-- costuming antics, check out the Entertainment Weekly article, "'Dark Knight': Batman's Big Score" by Chris Nashawaty.