A direction adaptive approach for the reduction of drag and the suppression of lift fluctuation in flow passing a circular cylinder is developed. Flexible filaments are attached to the surface of the cylinder, and different configurations, including the number, lengths, and angles of attachment of the filaments, as well as their tension and bending features, are investigated. In this comprehensive numerical study, the configuration with two filaments 180^{o} apart is found to be optimal for drag reduction and lift fluctuation suppression and is adaptive to the direction of the incoming flow. A drag reduction of 10.8% and a lift fluctuation suppression of 34.6% can be achieved as one filament is attached to the rear stagnation point and the other to the front stagnation point. The hairy coating resembled by 12 evenly attached filaments is also considered. Though marked drag reduction has not been found for this configuration, we leave it an open question for future studies to explore various properties of the filaments in turbulent flow, whose interaction with the filaments would be significant.