The WNBA Draft is now considered “basketball’s Met Gala,” inarguably one of the most impactful nights in basketball and fashion — but it wasn’t always monumental across culture.
From the first-ever 1997 draft until about 2007, a full decade of WNBA Draft classes arrived in business casual, corporate attire in neutral colors and “safe,” formal silhouettes.
As the years progressed, the League became much more encouraging of sartorial self-expression, and players began to experiment, play, and assert themselves with their fashion choices. Today, players who engage in off-court high fashion can bring their full personalities to the draft — and queer players with gender nonconforming or masculine wardrobes are accepted as their fullest, most true selves.
With the new NIL landscape and the growing popularity and viewership of women’s basketball, the business of fashion and sports have finally linked. Luxury fashion houses and top-selling beauty brands no longer take the marketability of WNBA players for granted, as seen through official WNBA partnerships with Mielle Organics, Maybelline, Glossier, Coach, and SKIMS.
The WNBA Draft class of 2026 is the most representative of this expressive and commercial evolution, with each player’s identity and charm (and business relationships) on full display through their ‘fits.
Dive into nine moments that defined the evolution of WNBA Draft fashion, from 1997 to 2026.
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2008: For the first decade of the WNBA, draft classes looked more like conferences. There were blazers, pantyhose, oversized suits, pencil skirts, and slacks galore. Around 2006 and 2007, a few players began to incorporate fashion pieces of the era, like Kangol caps or chunky jewelry, but not necessarily looks that were fashion-forward. Then, in 2008, we got the trifecta of Morenike Atunrase’s ruffled turquoise blouse and matching turquoise heels, Sylvia Fowles’s fedora and vest, and Candace Parker’s all-white tailored suit. (This suit walked so Brittney Griner’s could run.)
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2011: From 2009 to 2010, pops of color reigned supreme with bold tops and dresses in bright tones like coral or red. Differences in footwear emerged, like heeled boots, and different silhouettes, like capri suits and form-fitting dresses. The style leaned dressier and trendier, but still no major fashion statements like we see today. But in 2011, Liz Cambage broke the mold with her shaved-side haircut (a bold, asymmetrical cut donned made popular by trendsetters like Cassie, Rihanna, and LaLa Anthony), a bright red lip, and a feathered shoulder shrug over a one-shoulder bodycon dress. This mix of textures and materials was brand new territory for the W.
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2013: As we eased into the 2010s, more and more color began to be utilized by the draft classes. In 2013, however, Brittney Griner’s draft fit became an instant classic. The monochromatic ivory power suit — with the bright argyle socks and white Chucks — was seen ‘round the world. Griner’s trailblazing look was described in the press with masculine adjectives like “dapper,” respectfully and appropriately describing the tomboy style she loves.
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2014-2015: In 2014, Chiney Ogwumike was the standout best dressed of her draft class in a fuchsia flower-detailed lace shift dress, a bright statement fitting for the No. 1 Overall Pick. Yet, as seen in Ogwumike’s draft class photo, the introduction of different textures and materials was gradual and adopted by only a few in the 2010s. But Ogwumike’s lace dress was memorable, and in 2015, Reshanda Gray took it a step further with an elegant purple lace and sequin dress.
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2018-2019: It was during this two-year stretch that the WNBA experienced a revolution of sartorial self-expression. Asymmetry! Scalloped hems! Sequins! Satin! Sheer! Keyholes! Slits! Plunging necklines! Color-blocking and monochrome! Suits upon suits upon suits! After these two draft classes burst onto the scene in an explosion of color, nothing was the same.
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2020: It took 23 years, but the fashion of the WNBA Draft was officially elevated in 2020 with the first class of players to ever wear floor-length gowns. Maybe it was the pandemic of it all, with players wanting to make their virtual draft feel more special from home, but Te’a Cooper and Jocelyn Willoughby both donned black floor-length gowns with slits — and Cooper’s with sequins — to the virtual draft in April 2020. And from there, draft fashion was forever changed.
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2024: 2024 marked the first time the luxury fashion house Prada dressed an athlete — male or female — for the WNBA or NBA Draft. The honor went to none other than Caitlin Clark, who wore head-to-toe Prada, including her accessories. The W now had firm footing in the fashion world, and it showed: elsewhere on the orange carpet, Cameron Brink wore Balmain, and Angel Reese wore Australian luxury retailer Bronx and Banco.
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2025: By 2025, luxury was here to stay. Ahead of the 2025 WNBA Draft, the league announced its industry-changing multiyear partnership with Coach as well as the brand’s new player partnerships with five prospects. One of those prospects was Paige Bueckers, who wore a bedazzled custom suit by Coach on the orange carpet before changing into an androgynous Louis Vuitton rhinestone suit to be selected as the No. 1 overall pick. Other rookies wore high fashion brands like Amiri, Comme des Garçons, Louis Vuitton, and Honor the Gift. Business, fashion, and basketball, baby. A perfect trifecta.
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2026: This brings us to the 2026 WNBA Draft, which was praised as “basketball’s Met Gala” by more than one publication. Every single member of the 2026 WNBA Draft Class arrived with only one objective in mind: to eat. 2026 is inarguably the flyest draft class the league has ever seen, with four draftees, including Azzi Fudd, wearing custom Coach. Flau’jae Johnson took the prize for best-dressed in a showstopping Bent Kahina velvet gown with a movie-star train and a fur shawl. According to USA Today, Johnson told her stylist she wanted her look to give “the draft is at 6:00, and the Met Gala is at 6:30.”
Just like Saniya Rivers’s hand-painted Birkin read on the 2025 orange carpet, we’ve always known the WNBA been poppin.’ They just needed permission to be themselves — and for the rest of the world to finally catch up.
MEET KAITLYN MCNAB
Kaitlyn McNab is a contributing writer for TOGETHXR.com and an award-winning culture reporter and editor. Her creative mission is to celebrate and articulate diverse experiences across all narrative mediums.
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