There’s so much to love about Glass Onion: a Knives Out Mystery, which is now streaming on Netflix. The cast is amazing. The cameos are screamingly funny. The plot is a maze of twists and misdirection, which is even more pleasurable to follow on a rewatch. But one of the best parts of the movie is the costumes—especially the jaw-dropping rainbow dress worn by Kate Hudson’s character Birdie.
If you’ve seen the movie, you know the dress I’m talking about. It’s a floor-length gown made from shimmery rainbow fabric, which is mesmerizing when Birdie twirls around as she dances in Miles’ (Edward Norton) living room. Knives Out fans were mown over by Chris Evans’s fisherman sweater in the original movie, and the costuming in the sequel didn’t disappoint.
But unlike a cozy sweater, if you’re hoping to get a rainbow dress for yourself, you’re out of luck. The dress was made from scratch by costume designer Jenny Eagan, who also designed the costumes for the original Knives Out. Talking with Variety, Eagan—who reportedly felt pressure to create something as amazing as The Sweater for the sequel—said that “there was something so glamorous and something so old-school Hollywood [about Birdie] … It’s hard to find a print that’s not in your face all the time with designers. I thought, let’s go bold. We can make it our own.”
The dress is gorgeous, but another layer of its greatness is just how ridiculous it is. I say this as a middle-class peon who spends most Friday nights in my jam jams, but the thought of putting on a ballgown to hang out with half a dozen frenemies is something that I can’t quite wrap my head around. Can I see myself ever pulling off The Rainbow Dress? No. No, I can’t. Luckily, I get to live vicariously through Kate Hudson.
There’s another reason I love the dress, too—but I can’t talk about it without revealing major spoilers.
The spoiler-y reason why the rainbow dress is great
Major spoilers ahead! I mean it! You’ve been warned!
When Miles tells everyone to look at Birdie’s dress, he’s not just expressing admiration for haute couture. As Blanc reveals in the final act, Miles is diverting everyone’s attention away from the fact that he’s about to poison Duke (Dave Bautista) with pineapple juice.
In order to make that plot point believable, Eagan had to design a gown that would truly grab the attention of all the characters in the room, along with every member of the audience. And by creating the rainbow dress, she succeeded … with flying colors.
(featured image: Netflix)
