Coolest Joker and Harley Quinn Costumes

We were aiming for Arkham Asylum / Arkham City style Joker and Harley Quinn costumes and so we needed the following:

For the Joker:

  • Purple trousers
  • Purple tailcoat
  • Shirt
  • Green bow tie
  • Green hair dye

For Harley Quinn:

  • Red/black trousers
  • Red/black gypsy top
  • Red under bust corset
  • Red and black hair dye

Plus white face paint and red lipstick, of course.

The hardest things to find were the purple tailcoat for the Joker and the red/black top for Harley (funnily enough, red/black jeans were easy to find on eBay. Who knew?) In the end we got a white tail coat and used purple Dylon to dye it the right shade. We’re now a bit worried that our washing machine will stain anything white to a pale lilac colour, but it’s probably worth it. I ended up buying two tops, one in red and one in black, chopping them up and sewing them together. I’m not too handy with a needle and thread so I was terrified all night that it would start to fall apart at the seams – fortunately I think the corset helped to hold it together!

Then it was just a case of dying the hair (my hair is dark and I didn’t want to bleach it, so the red and black tips aren’t as vivid as they might be, but I think the Joker’s green hair worked really well), painting faces and applying lipstick. Top tip: MaxFactor Lipfinity Lasting Lip tint works great and stays on all night, even if you’re out for a few drinks. We used their Royal Plum shade which I already had and which works great against the white face paint.

I think if we’d had a bit more time (and money) I would have liked to have bought red and black boots, and added patches and wear and tear to our outfits. Perhaps it would be worth seaking out a blonde wig for Harley and dying that instead of my hair. I’d also love to get hold of an over-sized novelty mallet. Maybe we’ll update them for the next event.

We had a lot of fun with the outfits and got a lot of attention. We’re already looking forward to next Halloween and are trying to come up with another theme that will be as recognisable and as entertaining to put together. Super villains seem like a good idea generally.



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