Who is Benoit Blanc exactly? That’s the question that drove every tiny and not-so-tiny decision made by costume designer Jenny Eagan as she set out to craft the distinctive outfits worn by Daniel Craig’s drawling detective in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. “There’s a little bit of silliness to him,” Eagan tells Tudum. “[That’s what] makes it fun for me.”

Blanc ups his fashion game in Rian Johnson’s sequel to 2019’s Knives Out, trading the first film’s Northeastern suspenders-and-tie look for loungewear and linen to match Glass Onion’s jet-set Greek island setting. However, the audience first reconnects with the detective in the bathtub of all places, where he seems to have been spending most of his time during the global lockdown.

“Who is Benoit Blanc in the bath?” Eagan asked herself. She found the answer in a London hat shop, where she came across a tasseled smoker’s cap traditionally worn by men during the Victorian era to prevent their hair from smelling like stale tobacco. “It’s old school,” she says. “You could see him wearing it with a smoking jacket.” Originally, Eagan sent Craig a deerstalker cap as a nod to Sherlock Holmes. “It was too much,” she admits, noting that “Daniel has such a good sense of that character — he pulls it off so well.”

Still, Eagan wasn’t afraid to go over-the-top in the follow-up film when the occasion called for it. If Knives Out is best remembered for Chris Evans’ chunky knit cream sweater, she thinks Craig’s striped bathing suit will be the piece that sticks in people’s minds (and finds a place on their fashion mood boards) this time around. That particular costume came out of a note that Johnson wrote into the actual script. “He was in the pool with a shirt on,” Eagan says.

So, who is Benoit Blanc at the pool? After running through the options (“Is it an actual swimming costume that’s just a shirt? Who have I seen [like that] in the swimming pool [before]?”), Eagan settled on a concept. “Benoit would only wear something like a 1960s loungewear set by the pool that used to be terrycloth with those big, bold colors,” she says. Think of it as classic cabana wear for the classy crime-solving set.

To bring that natty vision to life, Eagan worked with a tailor whose father used to design Frank Sinatra’s Palm Springs looks. “He made the top shape for Paul Anka, and then the shorts were off of a pattern that they made for Sinatra,” she says. Eagan could easily imagine Blanc walking into a shirtmaker, spotting the set, finding out it was made for somebody famous, and pouncing. “The character in him is always creating a scenario,” she says. “Does he really know what he's doing, or is he playing the part of where he is? It's always a little off but yet still so cool.”

Over and over again, Eagan returned to something Craig mentioned during their collaborative fitting process. “Daniel said, ‘Think about it this way — Benoit Blanc has been to all these places before. He knows where he’s going.’ ” An international man of mystery with a sweet tooth for the finer things.

That thought led her to crafting Blanc’s signature item throughout the film: a series of multicolored knotted kerchiefs used as ascots to complement the character’s array of linen shirts. “The first [movie] was all about the floral-print ties,” Eagan says. “It’s an extension of that. This is vacation Benoit.”

Seeing Blanc in a new setting and scenario helps to flesh out the character that audiences first met as an outsider in the original Knives Out. This time, though, he’s the one to bring the audience into the Glass Onion universe, which allows us a glimpse at how his mind works to solve crimes — and hand-pick the perfect outfit. “I think it really helps to find Benoit. We didn't know so much about him in the first [movie], but this one tells [us] a little bit more — through that swimsuit —  about who he is.”

Who is Benoit Blanc in Glass Onion? “He's smarter than the rest of them,” she says. “He knows what he's doing and he knows the game he's playing. He's so good at it.” And, thanks to Eagan and Craig, he also looks sharp as hell in the process.

Daniel Craig and Janelle Monáe On Their Glass Onion CostumesThe two actors break down their favorite costumes from Glass Onion.