Washington and Lee’s Fancy Dress Steering Committee revealed this year’s Fancy Dress theme, “Party on the Moon,” at a reveal party Wednesday night.

The 109th Fancy Dress Ball will be held on March 19 in W&L’s Warner Center. The Fancy Dress Ball is one of the oldest traditions at W&L and was first held in 1907.

Early themes included “Colonial America” and “Le Bal Masque.” More contemporary themes include “A Night at Gatsby’s” and “Down the Rabbit Hole.”

It is a more recent tradition that the Fancy Dress Committee keeps the theme a secret until the upcoming weeks before the ball.

Yet, the committee works all year to organize the function. Once a theme has been chosen in the fall, the student-run organization sets out to make the idea a reality.

This year, the committee took a new approach to releasing the theme. In previous years, the theme has been revealed through different social media platforms, like Instagram and Facebook.

This year’s tented reveal party in Red Square was free to all students. Committee members sat in Commons earlier in the week to advertise the reveal.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” a Traveller driver said. “You can count on W&L kids to make anything a party.”

The Fancy Dress Instagram, as well as other W&L Instagram accounts, posted about the Fancy Dress reveal party to draw in as many students as possible.

The Fancy Dress Committee paired up with FeelGood, a student-led group that sells homemade grilled cheese sandwiches and puts the profits toward ending world poverty. FeelGood sold their gourmet sandwiches during the reveal party.

The student band “Moody and the Heard” entertained the attendees, including Kelsey Jervis, ‘18.

“I [couldn’t] wait to find out what the theme [was],” Jervis said. “I [hadn’t] been able to get it out of any of my friends who are on the committee.”

Fancy Dress Committee Co-Chairs Anna Hargett, ‘16, and Lacy Rosse, ‘16, announced the theme at 9:30 p.m.

“This year we chose to throw a reveal party as a way to really get people excited for the event,” Rosse said. “Our committee has been working really hard, and we thought it would be a great way to generate buzz for the main event.”

The theme shares its name with the band that is to perform, “Party on the Moon.”

The Atlanta-based band is well known across the country and has been booked by President Barack Obama and Donald Trump alike.

“For this year’s Fancy Dress, we are taking the event to a new level by hiring an award winning band and coordinating the theme along with them,” Hargett said. “We think this combination of the theme and band is going to create great energy throughout the night, and we’re excited to push the envelope with our decorations this year.”