Hi, this is my first post on this forum. I wasn't sure whether to start a new thread or post in this one, so moderators please feel free to move this post to a new thread if that's more appropriate. I just read through this entire thread, so if I ask anything that's already been answered, please blame it on my memory rather than on a failure to read previous posts.
I'm trying to get a reasonably accurate Joker costume on as small a budget as possible. My standards for accuracy are as follows: the shirt has to have a hexagon pattern that's recognizable as the Joker's, but the pattern doesn't have to be 100% accurate. Utopia Base's shirt, for example, though criticized by this community as being less than accurate, would work perfectly well for me. (I realize that the shirt is hardly the only or even the most important part of the Joker's ensemble, but I felt like it was a good example to illustrate my goals.)
The best deal I've found so far is a tailor-made coat + blazer + vest + shirt + tie + pants set offered by cosplaysky.com for
$290 (wool coat) or
$265 (gabardine coat) plus shipping. Has anyone here ordered from them before? Since the coat is arguably the most important part of the Joker's outfit (and since, purple being my favorite color, I may actually end up wearing this coat on a daily basis), I'm inclined to go with the (slightly more expensive) wool coat.
The only thing that doesn't look screen-accurate enough for my standards is the tie, so I may pick one up from
Utopia Base ($21.59). Or would you recommend that I get one of the fan-designed ones from Zazzle instead?
For the socks, I'm looking at either
Utopia Base's ($10.29) or
this pair from Sock Dreams ($13). Any opinions about which pair is better (in terms of both color and durability)?
For the gloves, I'm considering the officially-licensed Rubies ones. Has anyone had any luck with those? I'm also considering
these.
No suspenders for me. That leaves the shoes. I figured I'd keep an eye out for a cheap pair of gray or brown oxfords (new or used) to dirty up.
For the makeup, does it get any better than
Mehron's Evil J Villain Character Kit ($15.95 plus shipping)? Does anyone know how many applications you can get out of each kit?
Finally, if any of you has any tips on how to turn stubbornly straight hair curly (even just for a few hours), I'd sure appreciate that! I'd much rather grow out and dye my hair (assuming I can get it curly enough) than wear a wig.
I'm going to wait till I have my costume assembled before deciding on props. At the very least, I'll have a deck of cards, maybe one with all Jokers. I've been thinking about ways to incorporate Jokers into the card tricks I already know or want to work on, but since this isn't a magic forum I'll say no more. =)