It’s official: Lady Gaga will star as Harley Quinn in the Joker sequel alongside Joaquin Phoenix, who will reprise his villainous role in the upcoming movie musical. Despite her obvious gifts as an actress and singer, Gaga’s style couldn’t be more perfect for the iconic DC Comics character. Over the years, the superstar has channeled Quinn’s love of leather ensembles, which often include mini shorts and biker jackets. On a few occasions, Gaga has even sported quirky hair looks that nod to Harley’s signature tie-dye pigtails (which Margot Robbie also sported in the 2018 film Suicide Squad ).
While the costume designer for Joker: Folie À Deux will take Harley Quinn’s fashion looks in a new direction, Gaga’s wardrobe could certainly serve as a mood board for the character. What goes into a Harley Quinn costume? In the original DC comic, she wore a two-tone red and black leather jumpsuit with a jester’s hat. However, over the years, her outfits have become more risque, including a leather bra and underwear, or crop tops paired with shorts and heels. The word sexy always comes to mind, whatever the Harley outfit. After all, the bad girl is known for often tricking her attackers using her sexuality.
Gaga has always had a penchant for darker, more sinister fashion. Fans of hers know her as Mother Monster, and her wardrobe has always been in keeping with this more daring aesthetic. When she burst onto the scene with The Fame, for example, she rarely performed without her leather jackets or her latex outfits, garments in which we could easily see Harley kicking ass. During the time of her album De Ella Joanne De Ella, Gaga also often went out in micro-shorts, cropped T-shirts, and dizzying heels, three of Harley’s favorite pieces of clothing. More recently, Gaga’s Chromatica Ball tour has included strappy, futuristic leather outfits that look like they’re straight out of Suicide Squad .
So while Gaga has to do some serious method acting work to get into the iconic character — perhaps reverting to her beloved Stanislavski method, which she used for House of Gucci — her wardrobe is arguably covered. At the very least, she could get something of hers out of her closet and onto the set. We wouldn’t notice.
