In ‘Sugar’, Colin Farrell’s custom-made suits never get creases

John Sugar is not particularly good at going unnoticed—at least to us viewers. The handsome private investigator at the centre of Apple TV’s stylish neo-noir series Sugar, played by Colin Farrell, drives through present-day Los Angeles in a gorgeous Nassau Blue Corvette Stingray and conducts his business in a wardrobe of immaculate bespoke suits. Both seem conspicuous choices for someone paid to follow people while maintaining a low profile, but Sugar also happens to be a cinephile with an American Cinematographer subscription who models himself on the detectives of classic film noir.

“John doesn’t wear suits simply because he is a private investigator. He’s someone who has a very specific sense of self,” the show’s costume designer, Christie Wittenborn, tells The Nod. “He is enamoured with the private investigators of classic film noir: the Sam Spades, Philip Marlowes, and detectives who moved through morally complex worlds with an unwavering personal code. For him, those films are not simply entertainment, they’re part of his personal mythology.”

Evidently, his interest in old classics doesn’t only influence how he dresses but also the kind of man he wants to be—even though he’s actually a blue-bodied alien who first came to Earth on a mission to observe and study humans, as the first season’s big twist reveals. The revelation was also woven subtly into his wardrobe. “In season one, we used a lot of blacks and greys, and then eventually leaned into blues as we got closer to the reveal. With this season, we almost reverse engineered that, starting with midnight blue and going gradually lighter as the season progressed,” Wittenborn says. Is it an indication of Sugar assimilating and slipping deeper into his human identity? Perhaps.

In season two, the charming, principled, and unusually empathetic private eye stays back on Earth while the rest of his kind leave, hoping to discover the truth behind what happened to his long-lost sister. Initially, he wrestles with loneliness and hangs out with dogs at a park, but he soon gains a slick sidekick in Val (Sasha Calle), develops a romantic interest in Charlotte (Laura Donnelly), and begins to investigate the disappearance of the brother of an up-and-coming boxer Danny Moon (Jin Ha)—a case that unfolds into a wider conspiracy.

The modern noir uniform

The challenge for Wittenborn while creating the costumes was to borrow cues from fictional detectives from a bygone era without making Sugar stick out in the present-day setting. Her research stretched from detective films from the 1940s and ’50s and archival menswear to contemporary Los Angeles street style and luxury tailoring. It resulted in a clean uniform of sharp suits, crisp white shirts with French cuffs, dark ties, and smart oxfords—a look that’s understated, modern, and incredibly cool.

“The tailoring needed to feel contemporary, effortless, and believable. So, the silhouette wasn’t overly structured. Colin has such a strong physical presence, so the tailoring needed to complement him without becoming too imposing,” Wittenborn explains.

The colour palette remains restrained. There’s navy, charcoal, shades of grey and black, while his shirt is always white. “It looked good on screen and gave his uniform more consistency. We probably had about 50 white shirts in the same fabric. French cuffs all the way,” she says. The visual interest comes through the pristine cut and delicious details, like his ties with lowkey patterns, jet-black or navy suspenders, and cufflinks. “Each piece needed to feel as though Sugar had chosen it carefully and kept it for years,” she adds of the accessories.

Does the character actually get his suits tailored on Savile Row, as fans of the show on the internet seems to believe? “That’s the intention, [for it to look like] John has everything made for himself in a traditional bespoke way,” she says, revealing that everything, in fact, is made-to-measure by the team. According to Wittenborn, Sugar is somebody who appreciates the finer things for their quality than their ability to make him look wealthy or important and reflect his “integrity, discipline and respect for the work”.

In one scene, Danny asks Sugar how many suits he has hanging in his closet. Sugar admits he doesn’t know, returns to his hotel room, and counts them. “I thought that scene was really funny, and I love the way that Colin approached it,” Wittenborn says. The next time Sugar sees Danny, he tells him the answer is 14. “We made sure that he had 14 suits in the closet. But he’s also got more suits in a box at the safe house. So yeah, he has quite a few.”

The uniform also functions as armour. Because they’re classic suits in muted colours, Wittenborn believes the suits give him confidence while allowing him to blend into wherever his case takes him. “From a psychological perspective, it allows him to feel composed and prepared no matter what environment he walks into.” And Sugar walking into unexpected environments is kind of the whole show. One moment, he’s eating dinner at the bar in his hotel; the next, he’s looking for someone at a nightclub or driving through a gritty neighbourhood with his roof down. Perhaps a well-turned-out man in a bespoke suit breaking into your house is marginally less alarming than one dressed in all black and wearing a mask.

Suits that survive a stunt scene

If you’re wondering how Sugar’s suits don’t rip or get rumpled amid all the chasing people down alleys and physical altercations (he never carries a weapon), it’s because Wittenborn’s team nailed the pattern and the fabric. During fittings, the team developed a cut that gave Farrell enough freedom to move. “If he was doing anything that required stunt pads or something on his back—what we call a turtle back—then we would just make those pants a little bit bigger for the stunts to allow for that movement,” she explains.

The other part of the solution was mohair. “We didn’t have to do any technical fabric because the mohair is very resilient. It weathered all the stunt action that he was involved in, retained its shape and allowed him to move better than any other fabric. A silk-cashmere blend, for example, would have fallen apart quickly.”

What isn’t bespoke

It should come as no surprise that even the clothes Sugar sleeps in resemble a uniform. When he unwinds on his sofa watching black-and-white films, he wears a dark crewneck T-shirt and relaxed linen pyjama pants. The team sourced the T-shirts from Sunspel, a British cult favourite (whose polos have also been worn by Daniel Craig’s James Bond in Casino Royale). “I love the brand because of the quality of the knit and the crewneck. It’s just a classic, minimal T-shirt that fits him very well,” Wittenborn says.

The team bought the style in multiple colours. Sugar wears it both as an undershirt and to sleep, paired with the pyjamas or a robe provided by the hotel.

Wait a second, is that a Canadian tuxedo?

The power of Sugar’s signature look becomes clearest during a flashback scene that depicts his arrival on Earth. Before discovering classic cinema and the identity he would build from it, he’s dressed in a denim jacket with a corduroy collar and jeans. After seeing him in tailoring consistently, the outfit is jarring.

“He makes a point of talking about how he hasn’t found his human identity. So, the intention there was, when he first arrived and looked around, denim was the most prevalent fabric he saw. Everybody’s wearing denim. So, in his mind, he was trying to assimilate without putting too much thought into it before he found his true calling,” Wittenborn explains.

“When costume design is successful, the audience isn’t thinking about the wardrobe—they’re thinking about the character,” she says. In Sugar’s case, the costumes are so good it’s difficult not to think about both.