The 2026 WNBA draft rolled out the orange carpet at The Shed on Monday evening, where this year’s draft class showed up in looks inspired by old Hollywood, simplicity and feeling confident. 

The night’s number-one draft pick, Dallas Wings-bound Azzi Fudd, wore a custom Coach gown covered in silver sequins. Coach launched a sponsorship of the WNBA last year, and once again dressed several players on draft night.

“I saw the final product today,” Fudd said of her dress. “We did a fitting late last week and it was like a white dress with like a patch of sequins and I was like ‘uh oh.’ So today blew my mind.” 

Fudd was planning to celebrate after the draft at a party with her family and teammates before she’ll head to her new city. 

When not playing basketball, she’s in the market for ways to fill her free time.

“I’m going to need some hobbies. Now that I’m finishing up school, we need some new hobbies,” she said. “We need to find things to do, places to eat — I love to eat.” 

Kiki Rice, also dressed in Coach, had matched her nails to her silver jewelry, relishing the chance to have long curved nails.

“[I don’t get to] while playing, so it’s really cool to have nails like this in big moments like this,” she said of the look.

Flau’jae Johnson, wearing a daring black Bent Kahina gown, said she was going to start working out as soon as she arrived in her new city. 

“The season starts in about 2.5 seconds, so I gotta work out,” she said. “I gotta condition. I gotta lock in immediately.”

Gianna Kneepkens, who opted for a simple light blue dress, said she was looking forward to developing her fashion sense with the new spotlight in the WNBA. 

“My fashion is growing for sure. We’re still kind of seeing what I like,” she said. “It is a big thing in the league. It’s growing. People love to see that.”

Angela Dugalić wanted to keep things “super classy but not basic” and worked with stylist Kesha McLeod for the night, building a Pinterest board together and having Zoom calls. She opted for a black sequined L’Agence dress with Aldo shoes and borrowed her McLeod’s Chanel bag for the occasion.

“I definitely have to take care of it tonight. This is my pride and joy right now,” she said of the bag.

“I wanted to go for a vintage, Hollywood glam vibe,” UCLA star Lauren Betts said of her black Coach dress with thigh slit. 

Betts got ready with family and friends, squeezing in time to make content and take photos. She teased a celebration post draft with her people in town. 

“We shall see. I can’t give too much away, but I am very excited to spend it with all my close people,” she said.

Raven Johnson, who was later drafted by the Indiana Fever, also wore a look by Coach. 

“We went for an elegant classy look. But, like, a baddie look,” she said of her blazer dress and platform heels. “Something that pops.”

As for her plans post draft?

“Oh we turning up.”