The iconic nemesis of the Batman, the Joker is once again one of the most popular characters that people want to be for Halloween. The popularity of the Dark Knight and the captivating performance by the late Heath Ledger (R.I.P.) have made the Joker costume into one of the most sought-after today.

In creating the perfect Batman Dark Knight Joker costume for yourself, you need to decide upfront how much detail you want in your costume. Most all pre-packaged costumes will include a mask, a purple jacket and a shirt/vest/tie combination. Some packages will have pants as well. Vinyl masks come with molded hair. Latex masks include synthetic hair and look more realistic.

The basic costume packages have a printed shirt that creates the illusion of wearing a shirt, vest and tie. (You may have seen a similar effect with "tuxedo" shirts.) An improved version includes what looks like a real shirt, vest and tie. However, they are attached together into one chest piece and are not whole articles of clothing. The grand costume includes everything whole and intact - a mask with hair, addtional makeup, a purple jacket, a green vest, a hexagonally-patterned shirt, purple pin-stripped pants and a tie.

You could try to find individual articles of clothing that resemble the ensemble of Batman's nemesis at various clothing stores and vintage clothing shops. This could take quite a bit of time though and you wouldn't necessarily save much money versus going with the grand costume.

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