Harley Quinn's Outfit Will Be "Less Male Gaze-Y" In 'Birds Of Prey,' Margot Robbie Says

As soon as she charged onto the screen in ash-white hair and hot pants with a psychotic grin on her face in 2016's Suicide Squad, Margot Robbie established herself as an immediate scene-stealer. But while Harley Quinn's raggedy T-shirt and shiny red-blue hot pants may have worked as the most popular Halloween costume of that year, it's not too practical for a character who has unwittingly become a quasi-feminist hero. So for Warner Bros.' upcoming female-led superhero team movie Birds of Prey, the Harley Quinn outfit is getting a bit of a makeover.

We got a glimpse of of Harley Quinn's festive new outfit in the first teaser for Birds of Prey, with a beaming Robbie donning a pink sports bra, suspenders, and half of Party City on her blazer. That's a look which, in a recent Vogue cover story on Robbie, the writer noted as "more Sporty Spice than male fantasy."

Robbie, who acts as executive producer on the female-led film, agrees that the outfit is "definitely less male gaze–y" than how she appeared in the David Ayer-directed 2016 movie.

Birds of Prey is benefiting not just from having women in front of the camera, but several behind the camera as well. Cathy Yan will direct the film based on a script by Christina Hodson, while costume designer Erin Benach, who recently worked on A Star is Born, is responsible for the new female- and comfort-friendly tweaks to Harley's outfit. "That's what happens when you have a female producer, director, writer," Benach told Vogue.

I have to say that I'm warming to Harley Quinn's new look, one that at first looked thrown-together and cheap to me. But it's in line with her character — it's not like a hole-ridden T-shirt and hot pants were the most couture of costumes — and speaks to her fun-loving side that will likely come through in the film. But that fun-loving side that is still very violent, as Vogue claims Birds of Prey will be an "R-rated superhero action film." (The MPAA has yet to dictate an official rating for the movie.)

Birds of Prey also stars Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary, a hero with an ultrasonic scream; Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, a vigilante who's the daughter of a slain mob boss; Rosie Perez as Gotham City's Detective Renee Montoya; Ella Jay Basco as future Batgirl Cassandra Cain; Ewan McGregor as the villainous Black Mask; and Chris Messina the serial killer Victor Zsasz.Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) hits theaters on February 7, 2020.