Batman Forever Two-Face Costume Analysis

"Oh, happy day!"

If you're reading this, I gather you're at least partially interested in the character of Harvey Dent/Two-Face. He's a very stylish character--one of the most visually-striking creations of the American pop imagination. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, Two-Face first debuted in Detective Comics #66 published August of 1942. Subsequently, he has gone on to be adapted many times in various forms of Batman-media. But we're here to talk about a very specific iteration: that of Harvey/Two-Face as depicted in Joel Schumacher's 1995 film BATMAN FOREVER.

Academy Award-winner Tommy Lee Jones was the first actor to ever bring Two-Face to life in live-action (though Harvey Dent appeared, played by Billy Dee Williams, in Batman [1989], he never fully-blossomed into off-kilter chicanery). Two-Face's make-up in the film was designed by the legendary Rick Baker, and his costumes by Bob Ringwood, who had worked on the previous two Burton Batman films as well.Two-Face is my favorite Batman villain, and I always wanted to dress as the character, but found the prospect very daunting.

In 2023, I cosplayed for the first time and wound up attempting to recreate Jack Nicholson's Joker. The blog Obsessive Costuming Dude was a HUGE resource for me on that front.

https://obsessivecostumingdude.blog/joker-costume/

Seriously, it's a veritable one-stop-shop for all things Joker '89--that blog was/is a godsend! I tried my best to replicate that costume and was pretty happy with the result. I decided sometime after that to at least ATTEMPT to finally do Two-Face. I guess the little experience I gained from my Joker adventure gave me the confidence to approach something as complex as Harvey. And, immediately, I wanted to do this film's version. It's very elaborate and visually striking--there's a LOT going on with this costume! It's garish and tacky and over-the-top in all the right ways. The problem was... There WAS no Obsessive Costuming Dude for Two-Face '95! So, this blog post is the result of all my research into recreating the Batman Forever Two-Face suit!

While Two-Face wore many ensembles in Batman Forever, his most consistent and iconic costume was the following split-suit representing his clashing personalities.

TWO-FACE'S SPLIT-SUIT - 

The "Harvey" or "good" side of his suit, on his right, was a charcoal, single button blazer with a wide lapel, right hip pocket with a flap and matching charcoal trouser leg.

The "Two-Face" or "evil" side of his suit, on his left, was also a single-button blazer done in Fuchsia tiger-stripe printed on a velvet shimmer fabric with matching trouser leg. The lapel, however, on this side was a shawl lapel done in a satin zebra window-pane "confetti" style, as were the breast-pocket and hip pocket-lining.

 

The right sleeve of his jacket had three black buttons on the outside of the wrist. The left sleeve of his jacket has three satin buttons painted in split-tones on the outside of the wrist.

TWO-FACE'S SHIRT - 

Like everything else on his outfit, Two-Face's shirt was split down the middle. 

The Harvey side featured a white dress shirt with subtle white diagonal stripes, a big collar and a French cuff.

The Two-Face side: a neon yellow leopard-print dress shirt made of silk, with a big collar and a French cuff

Collar detail. The print of the pattern is pretty big. It is also hemmed with subtle white stitching.

TWO-FACE'S TIE - 

Two-Face wore a split-tie.

The Harvey side: a burgundy tie with small white dots.

The Two-Face side: a brushed leopard-print tie. This pattern is a darker yellow. It featured more of a "burnt" yellow tinge. The spots are also bigger.

TWO-FACE'S SUSPENDERS -

 Like everything else on his outfit, Two-Face's suspenders were also split.

The Harvey side: a crimson suspender.

The Two-Face side: a black suspender with a skull-pattern adorning it.

These photos below are from his Nygmatech-gala tuxedo's bow-tie/cummerbund, but the skull design seems to be the same ones pictured on the suspenders:

 TWO-FACE'S LEFT FINGER-LESS BIKER GLOVE -

Two-Face wore a finger-less biker glove on his left hand that sported metal bars on the backs of his five fingers and three across the back of his palm. These images are from an auction site, so they have more wear than they did in 1995!

 

TWO-FACE'S YIN-YANG CUFF-LINKS - 

Since his shirt sleeves were done in French-cuff style, naturally, they needed cuff-links to hold them together. Fittingly, Two-Face sported Yin-Yang cuff-links, as you can see here. He had an identical one on the leopard-print cuff!

 

  

TWO-FACE'S WRISTWATCHES - 

 

Two-Face wore a watch on each of his wrists: a black leather Aviator-style watch on his Harvey side and a red & black Yin-Yang brass wristwatch on his left side.

  

 

 

You can BARELY see it in these photos. I wish I had a higher-quality shot of it, but these are the best I could manage. 

This was Two-Face's gang "logo" in the film:

You see it on his helicopter and his parachute. It's safe to assume this was the same design his watch featured!

TWO-FACE'S SKULL & CROSSBONES LAPEL PIN - 

Here's another easy to overlook but fun little detail: he wore a skull & crossbones brooch pin on his left lapel!

 

TWO-FACE'S SHOES -

 

Two-Face's right shoe was your typical, standard-issue solid black Oxford-style dress shoe with laces and full brogues.

 

Two-Face's left shoe is a snake-skin Oxford that has been modified to embody his "evil" side. The details are SO subtle, as there are no lingering close-up shots, that you could blink and miss them. He sported a silver boot-tip with a skull embossed in it. On both sides of his laces, he had skull & crossbones buckles. The back of his heel was also decked out with biker-studs. I counted 11 total circling the heel, but the main outfit's shoe might have a different number.

 

The following photos were NOT part of his main outfit, but rather from the Nygmatech gala paint-splattered tuxedo, but they are similar ENOUGH to gain a better idea of what was going on. These were taken from a Propstore auction for that suit. Obviously, these were taken nearly three decades later, so there is wear and tarnish that were not present in the original film.

 

 Two-Face wore a purple sock on his left foot.

TWO-FACE'S COIN - 

Two-Face's trademark is his misprinted double-headed Silver dollar. One side is pristine, the other marred and scratched. He flips the coin to decide which personality gains dominance. In the film Batman Forever, Two-Face's coin is unique.

Most iterations of Two-Face, including The Dark Knight, base his coin on the 1922 Liberty Peace dollar.

However, Forever's Two-Face has a coin specific to that film, featuring the head of "Lady Gotham," the Schumacher-verse's Statue of Liberty equivalent. It also bears the inscription, "E Gothamus Unum," a play on "E Pluribus Unum," Latin for "Out of many, one." In this case, it would be, "Out of Gotham, one," which is rather ironic. You can see in the following screen-shots that the coin was fairly large, being oversized, I think, to pick up better on camera.

TWO-FACE'S WEAPONS -

Benelli MP95 E. Two-Face's main weapon in the movie, the one he utilized the most, is a custom chrome-plated Benelli MP 95E long-rifle pistol. It is, fittingly, a .22 caliber target pistol. It had additional components under the barrel and a charcoal-black grip.

 

Arminius Windicator revolvers. Additionally, Two-Face sported double revolvers. Both of them were Arminius Windicator revolvers, "1 constructed of dark gunmetal blued body, 1 of silver, with fluted square barrels, vent holes at top and bottom, light wooden grips featuring eagle engraving, 1 with embedded gold metal logo coin, 1 with silver." Both measuring approx. 11 x 5.5 x 1.65 in.

Type 69 RPG. Two-Face used this to fire upon the Batmobile early in the film.

 

FACIAL APPLIANCES -

 

Obviously, Two-Face wouldn't be "two-faced" without his scars! Here are some reference photos of Rick Baker's elaborate acid-burn prosthetics. 

 

 

Eyebrow:

 

 

Cheek:

 

Upper Lip:
 

 

Lower Lip:

 

SUIT COLOR -

Now, we're going to get into the weeds a little bit. I described the suit's color as Fuchsia for the sake of brevity above. According to the Batman Forever official style guide, the suit's color is "PMS 228," which is a, "medium-dark shade of magenta-pink." However, when I had fabric printed with that color, it came out more of a plum color.

 

The Warner Bros. exhibit describes the suit as a "Fuchsia split-suit." Some of the original promotional photos, such as the theatrical poster, depict the suit as looking red. 

In some shots of the movie, usually under neon lighting, it appears more purple. There seems to be confusion as to what color the suit "at rest," should be. Some merchandise opts for a simple pink, some plum, some red. The velvet fabric had a shimmer effect and the design had a gradient to it, causing it to reflect light differently under various conditions.

CONCLUSION:

Wow! That was a lot, huh? This suit has a LOT of details, some of which are, shockingly, subtle. (I know, "subtle" and "Batman Forever's Two-Face" are not usually descriptions that go together...). I hope this has been a help! If you decide to recreate this suit, I'd love to see the results! This was a labor of love on my part, and it's been my obsession for pretty much ALL of 2024. Batman Forever is not wildly loved by many. In fact, you can get a LOT of hate for expressing any love for Schumacher's Batman films at all online. But, we're coming up on the 30th anniversary of the movie and, it seems to me at least, that the tide is changing a little. We're even seeing merchandise for the film in stores again! 

 

I must confess, prior to this past year, I would not have called Batman Forever one of my favorites. However, in revisiting the film, especially the gorgeous 4K release, I've found... It has aged incredibly well. The costumes, production design, cinematography and overall "vibe" are just unlike anything else. They feel new again, FUN. It just reminds you how much FUN is missing from a lot of designs nowadays.

 

I will stand by the fact that this Two-Face design fucking ROCKS. It just does. It has "drip," as the kids say. Stand this next to the Aaron Eckhart Two-Face suit, or the Arkham Two-Face suit, or even the hallowed Batman: the Animated Series Two-Face suit, and, I guarantee, your eyes will immediately go straight to this one. It's awesome.

If loving this design is wrong, I don't wanna be right! There are always going to be haters--if this Two-Face teaches us anything, it's that for every Yin there must be Yang. Don't yuck someone else's yum. Thanks for your time and attention. And remember: "Courage Now, Truth Always, Batman Forever!"