Nothing is worse than showing up to a holiday party wearing the same outfit as someone else. So you can only imagine how Laura Bush must have felt when she found out that three guests had on the very same red $8,500 Oscar De La Renta dress she was wearing. The first lady kept the gown on for the official holiday photographs, but as soon as the shoot was over, she went upstairs to change into another lacy frock.Hearing about the First Lady's narrowly averted fashion faux pas got me thinking about my own high school prom. Because I grew up in a small town, most girls bought dresses from the very same boutique that kept a secret registry of who bought which dress, so that duplication-humiliations could be kept to a minimum.
At the time, I thought this practice was ridiculous -- who cared if someone had the same dress you did? But after seeing the way that Mrs. Bush reacted, I'm sure she and her guests are all wishing that the folks at Oscar De La Renta kept better tabs on who bought what, and when.