Joker Costumes

Most people like nothing better than to pull a fast one on their friends for a laugh. Why not tap into your inner imp and reflect that in your Halloween costume? The Joker costume for Halloween is an excellent choice because of all the options it gives.  You can choose which Joker you want to be-The Dark Knight,  DC Comics, or Classic Joker.  The Your costume can reflect your eternal prankster, or your inner bad guy. You can spend your Halloween evening making people laugh at your antics. Or slouch your way through the night being brooding and dangerous. Men, women, and children will have a blast putting together this costume.

Dark Knight Joker

Like all Joker costumes, this will work for everybody. Simple clown white makeup for the face will begin this outfit. With any other costume, you want a perfect application when it comes to using this base. Not so for the Joker. Smudges, cracks, and careless application are a trademark for this look. You want scruffy, jaded, bored, and troubled. Especially troubled.

Once the white base is on, darken your eye sockets with a deep gray or black face paint. Use a fine paintbrush with the same dark makeup to play up forehead creases and laugh lines. Don’t forget to add in some sinister crowfeet. With a deep scarlet red, paint an exaggerated mouth from the middle of one cheek to the opposite cheek. Finish the look with a generous application of hair product to muss up your hair. A rumpled, messy wig is also a great option.

The clothing for this Joker Costume is simple. You can use black pants, jeans, leggings, or even a skirt. The signature color for this Joker costume is a vibrant purple. Look for a suit jacket at a secondhand store in this shade. If purple isn’t available, go for bright green or scarlet. Barring those colors, find the most outlandish color possible among the choices. Add to that a dress shirt, tie, and suit vest-all in contrasting colors. Footwear can be whatever you’re comfortable in. Outlandish boots, sky high heels, glossy dress shoes, or grubby sneakers. They all work with this Joker Costume.

 DC Joker Costume a la Jack Nicolson

This is the most whimsical and flamboyant of all the Joker costumes in this style. This costume will begin with some clown white for the face. Use silver or light gray eyeshadow to accent lids and creases of the eye. Darken and shape your eyebrows. You’ll need the traditional sinister slant Joker is famous for. The cheeks and mouth of this makeup is where the magic happens. With careful shading using black makeup, deepen all creases that form laugh lines. Don’t forget to enhance the corners of your mouth. The idea is to shadow the deeper areas of your smile as much as possible. Use the whitest of white makeup to create height on the apples of your cheeks. A facial highlighter powder is great help with this. You want to give the illusion of extra height and fullness above the shadows. There is also the option of using a theatrical Special FX wax. Use this with liquid latex to create the needed volume on your cheeks. You’ll need to create this volume where you want it before you start applying your makeup.

The clothing for this costume is very much like the other Joker costumes. The key here is in the color. Check out your second hand or thrift shops for a suit jacket in a bright purple. You’ll need a lime green dress shirt to play off the suit jacket. If you’re able to find something in satin it will be a definite plus. You can pull this costume off with or without a suit vest. For the pants, you don’t need to try to find a matching color. What you will need is a loud checked, plaid, or striped pair of pants that will coordinate with your suit jacket. Even better if you can find a pair that will go with that lime green dress shirt. The best bet for footwear is going to be a shiny pair of black or white dress shoes. Hit up your local dollar store and find a large flower blossom for your lapel. The last thing you need to wrap up this costume is going to be a classic…hat to top it all off.

Joker Costume-Vintage DC Version

This is the classic Joker. The charm, the wit, the impeccable suit, and the veiled menace. All these combined gave us what was one of the most iconic villains of all time. This costume is one of the most unforgettable looks anyone can come up with for Halloween night. This costume also begins with the makeup. You’ll need a basic clown white for the face. This Joker is classy, clean ,clever, and refined. Apply your clown white makeup. Next, you’ll add the accents for eyebrows, mouth, and eyes. Less is more here. Simple black eyeliner for top and bottom eyelids will do. An exaggerated mouth in a deep red is the look you’re aiming for with this costume. Sketch in and shape your brows in black greasepaint or pencil to give you the classic sardonic look. Tint your hair a subtle green shade with temporary color, or you can don a slick green wig. If you prefer, style your hair in a classic ducktail. A moldable hair putty is a great option for texture and hold.

For clothing, this costume still claims the color purple as its basic go-to shade. If you cannot find a purple suit, that’s fine. Burgundy or another deep red shade will work too. If all else fails, go for a basic black jacket and pants with a contrasting vest. If you’re able to find a long tailed styled jacket, this is a definite bonus. Keep the dress shirt simple for this costume. For the tie, you can go with a bolo style tie or a cravat. Create an elegant droopy bowtie style tie with a voluminous scarf. Use a bright contrasting color for the tie as well.

If a classic and iconic yet cool and contemporary Halloween costume is what you’re looking for, this is the one. There is nothing else out there that checks all the boxes like the Joker costume. You’ll be dashing and debonair, funny and a bit freaky, familiar and at the same time unexpected. No one knows what to expect from the Joker. This is the perfect costume for Halloween night.