Editors’ Note: This story was updated on March 27 to accurately represent Grace Lorenz’s thoughts on Fancy Dress scheduling.

The Fancy Dress Committee was left with dozens of unsold tickets after three days of tabling, according to the Fancy Dress Instagram. 

Several Washington and Lee athletes missed Fancy Dress on March 21 because of scheduling conflicts. Ten Washington and Lee athletics programs have matches scheduled on the day of the event, according to the athletic composite calendar. Although not all of the teams missed Fancy Dress, athletes on the women’s tennis, men’s lacrosse and women’s and men’s golf teams missed the event. So did the women’s and men’s NCAA championship swimmers.

Fancy Dress is an annual event that’s more than a century old. The dance is one of the university’s largest annual events managed by students.

“It’s pretty much the one of the only full school events,” Grace Lorenz, ’26, said.

Some student-athletes say the conflict could have been avoided. 

Lorenz is a senior on the women’s tennis team and went to Fancy Dress the past three years. Her team missed Fancy Dress this year to play matches in Georgia on March 21 and 22.  

“It’s a little bit frustrating,” Lorenz said. “I know that other teams also have the same issue.”

Lorenz said her team almost missed Fancy Dress last year, but her coaches were able to reschedule the match. The coaches could not reschedule this year.

“It feels like there’s not really any accommodation at all for sports teams,” Lorenz said. “There’s just zero contact with the coaches who are actively working on the schedules throughout the summer and early fall.”

Lorenz said she found out her team was missing the event when the date was announced on Fancy Dress’s Instagram last September.

“It’s going to be a big morale thing to work on to make sure everyone’s not just kind of just bummed the whole weekend that we’re missing Fancy Dress,” Lorenz said. “This is the hardest match of our year.”

Lorenz said many of her teammates wished Fancy Dress leaders communicated with the athletic department to avoid scheduling conflicts.

Fancy Dress student leaders do not pick the date, according to Mariyyah Daniel, ’27, one of the tri-chairs of the event.

“The school’s administration picks the date years in advance,” Daniel said. 

Student leaders declined to comment further about scheduling or ticket sales. 

Women’s golf player Toral Bhatt, ’29, said she did not mind missing Fancy Dress for golf. 

“Overall, I am not upset that I am unable to go to Fancy Dress, and honestly, it has probably saved me some trouble,” said. “I think that the consensus on our team is that we are not bothered by missing it. Some of our teammates have been to Fancy Dress before, and they don’t feel like it is a big deal to miss it.”

Swimmer Maria Jellig, ’26, found out she was going to the NCAA championship meet in Indiana right after she bought Fancy Dress tickets.

“I bought two tickets,” Jellig said, “and I got a call an hour later that I was going to nationals.”

Jellig had already bought a dress for the event. But she said she wasn’t too upset.

“I’m really not bummed out at all about missing Fancy Dress,” Jellig said. “[Nationals] has been something I’ve been working towards for the past four years, and it’s something I’ve wanted to go to so bad.”

Tickets to Fancy Dress sold out in two days in 2025 and 2024, according to the Fancy Dress Instagram page. 

“Most of [the budget] is EC-funded, but we also get a huge portion from tickets and merch packages,” Marina Duff, ’27, one of the tri-chairs of the event, said in an interview with the Phi in January. 

Not selling out of tickets this cycle has not impacted the budget, Duff said in an email to the Phi on March 12. 

“Student athletes make up a huge percentage of the student body,” Lorenz said.

Around 600 students at the university are varsity student-athletes, according to Athletics Director Jan Hathorn.

“It almost feels like sometimes … there’s no consideration,” Lorenz said.

Lorenz said she doesn’t blame the athletics department and wishes the university and the Fancy Dress committee would tell coaches the Fancy Dress date ahead of time.

“At the end of the day, we signed up to play a sport and everything comes with sacrifices,” Jellig said. “But it’s a bummer.”