Joker Costume - Visual References - Obsessive Costuming Dude

In the course of my costume research, I’ve gathered many dozens of visual references of the 1989 Joker’s costume.

These include auction photos of screen-used costumes and costume elements, as well as museum displays.

I included many of them in my updated Joker costume analysis, although they were often cropped to better see certain details.

For those of you interested in viewing, reading about, and/or making a Joker costume, I thought it might be handy to have all these visual references gathered in the same place for easy and convenient viewing. 🙂

One auction featured the three-piece suit first worn by Jack Napier, then again by the Joker during his meeting with the crime bosses.

It also included his orange shirt and the purple necktie he wore for his surprise visit to Vikki Vale, although he never wore this particular ensemble in the film.

There was a separate auction listing with a single photo for this same costume ensemble, although the colors looked radically different (because of course).

A Google search also revealed a Film Memorabilia auction viewing photo shared by “roger.w800” in London, September 2019.

By far the Joker costume element with the most reference photos is his iconic purple hat – and gorgeous photos they are, too!

An additional auction listing featured even more images of the hat.

The Joker’s purple overcoat from the film’s parade climax was also sold, and the auction listing featured numerous beautiful photos.

One of the Joker’s purple gloves (signed by Jack Nicholson) was sold at auction, and the listing photos revealed some nice details.

A separate auction listing included a single photo of what appeared to be a different (although still right hand) glove – note the green stain and overall distressing.

An auction listing for the teal tie the Joker wore to his ‘date” with Vikki Vale at the art gallery included half-a-dozen lovely photos.

A Google search also revealed these two photos of the aforementioned tie on display, shared on Deskgram by “matt.vividrental.”

There were these two auction photos of the Joker’s iconic cravat, although neither of them is particularly helpful in regard to making a replica – merely worth mentioning.

A pair of “playing card suit” cufflinks were sold at auction, and the listing included some very nice detail photos. (As you may recall from my costume analysis, I believe the Joker’s waistcoat incorporated these cufflinks as an unconventional substitute for buttons.)

One auction for a pair of screen-used Joker boots had some terrific photos.

Of course, there were also a handful of fun publicity photos for the film itself.

Here are some beautiful photos from two different screen-used costume displays, kindly provided by Paul Wares.

The first was from the BFI – a sort of “mix-and-match” with the garments, since the Joker never actually wore this particular ensemble in the movie.

The other Joker costume display was at the DC London Exhibition. (Photo credit again goes to Paul Wares for these.)

And finally, a recent auction listing featured many gorgeous photos of several wardrobe elements of the Joker’s costume – although again, this particular ensemble was never actually worn in the film.