All featured products are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, Vanity Fair may earn an affiliate commission.

Caitlin Clark needed a nap.

It was Monday afternoon, and the culmination of a whirlwind eight-day stretch that began with the end of her brilliant collegiate career.

The previous Sunday, in Cleveland, the Clark-led Iowa Hawkeyes had been defeated by the South Carolina Gamecocks in a national title game that generated a record audience.

Clark and her teammates flew back to Iowa City the following day, but she wasn’t home for long. Next stop Los Angeles, where she accepted the John R. Wooden Award on Friday night.

The next morning, Clark was bound for New York, where she hustled over to 30 Rock immediately after touching down.

Later that evening, Clark would make a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live, dropping in during the show’s Weekend Update segment.

“I did pretty good,” she said assuredly of her cameo.

Clark was sitting in a cramped hotel room 39 floors above Manhattan, six hours before the Indiana Fever officially made her the top pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft.

Adrenaline was doing its thing, but Clark admitted that she was fading. In fact, the week’s jam-packed schedule had already forced her to make a sacrifice.

An avid golfer, Clark had planned on making a pilgrimage to Augusta for the Masters, but that was asking too much—even for a 22-year-old phenom.

“Augusta to LA to New York City to Indianapolis wasn’t the greatest,” Clark said of her would-be itinerary. “I’m very thankful that I’m here because I’m so tired. I haven’t slept much.”

Clark was wearing gray sweatpants adorned with the Hawkeye logo and a light purple Nike T-shirt, a comfy prelude before slipping into high fashion for Monday night’s festivities.

At the draft, which was held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Clark arrived in head-to-toe Prada: a white double satin skirt and shirt; an embroidered rhinestone mesh top; a black leather Galleria handbag with matching black slingback pumps. She topped off the look with a pair of acetate sunglasses.

But at the hotel hours earlier, Clark was sporting a pair of gold undereye patches as stylists primped her hair and did her makeup. “Don’t make me look crazy,” she instructed the makeup artist.

Clark likened the moment to a high schooler getting ready for prom, before revealing that she wasn’t drawing from personal experience. “I never went to prom,” she said. “Junior year I had AAU basketball, and then senior year it was COVID.”

Organized chaos unfolded all around her, with a steady stream of people breezing in and out—a woman delivering Glossier gift bags one minute, a repairman arriving to fix the broken air conditioner the next.

A film crew was on hand, capturing it all for a docuseries that will premiere next month on ABC and ESPN+. Clark’s boyfriend, Connor McCaffery, and two of her Iowa teammates, Jada Gyamfi and Gabbie Marshall, lounged on the bed.

Kate Martin, another member of the Hawkeyes, joined the crew eventually. Martin wasn’t among the prospects invited to Monday’s draft, but she still hoped to hear her name called.

Clark was certain that it would be, and demanded that Martin go onstage when it happened.