This is The Close-Up, where the biggest names in entertainment explain the story behind their latest personal style statement.
One week after UCLA's star center, Lauren Betts, helped secure her team its first NCAA championship, she teased the designer behind her 2026 WNBA Draft look. In an Instagram post live from New York City—before the Washington Mystics called her name on April 13—she showed off a Coach Tabby Bag. Not long after, she walked the red carpet at The Shed at Hudson Yards in a custom Coach set, ready to receive her first-ever WNBA jersey.
Ahead of her big moment, though, Betts told Marie Claire she had "no worries" about the event because "we're all naturals in front of the camera," referring to her UCLA teammates: "It's like being at the draft with your best friends." Instead, she's committed to enjoying every day of this "surreal" week—"soaking in" a win with her sister Sienna, making talk-show appearances, and, now, wearing a Coach look designed just for her. (Fitting, since Coach is an official partner of the WNBA.)
Betts didn't reveal much about her custom Coach creation before walking the step-and-repeat—except that she was so excited about it—but she did admit she couldn't wait "for everyone to see how we all look outside of our jerseys, all sweaty."
The 22-year-old looked every bit a red carpet regular in a "very chic, very elegant" bias-cut maxi dress from the brand, with its spaghetti-slim straps, U-shaped neckline, and thigh-high slit. Scattered rhinestones glistened from bodice-to-train.
"We had a few fittings, trying to find time in our busy schedule, but we definitely collaborated and put together something really beautiful," she says.
Betts' belted, peep-toe Margot mules weren't just Coach's take on the doll heels trend, but a comfortable shoe for a fabulously long night.
She also accessorized with a Coach Tabby 26, this time in black with silver hardware. (Last year, Paige Bueckers, Aneesah Morrow, Hailey Van Lith, and Sonia Citron all carried Tabby Bags on the carpet, too.) The newly-minted Mystic has something her soon-to-be competitors don't: family ties to the brand. She and her mom purchased their first designer bags from Coach, she reveals—fast-forward 15 years or so, and she's "put my whole team on, so we all have a [Coach] bag now."
Gorjana jewelry matched the minimalist suave of Betts' slip-style dress. Being part of the label's Sports Club gave her an all-access pass to a $5,615, lab-grown diamond chain, a matching $2,775 tennis necklace, and $540 hoop huggie earrings.
The '90s-inspired mood board translated to her hair and makeup, too. Her makeup artist tapped into Betts's month-old partnership with Nyx to create bronze smokey eyes, chiseled cheeks, feathered brows, and glossy nude lips.
Wearing Coach to the WNBA Draft was a "dream come true" for Betts, but this is just the beginning of her fashion-girl era. If last night's look was her sartorial warm-up, her upcoming tunnel walks will mirror a March Madness-esque marathon.
"Fashion is something that I've always been really interested in," she says. "I'm excited to show my personality and my style a little bit more than I get to in college."
She's not limiting herself to certain brands, either. As long as there's room for collaboration, the rising star feels confident "we'll put together some really cool 'fits."
Should her pre-game picks be anything like her draft dress (and the grunge-sleek sets on her IG), expect Betts's '90s style to rank high on best-dressed lists following her first game with the Mystics.
Photographer Ben Rosser | Stylist Katie Qian | Hair Stylist NYX Cosmetics | Makeup Artist NYX Cosmetics | Location The Luxury Collection Hotel Manhattan Midtown
