Red faces over four identical dresses
By Catherine Elsworth in New YorkArriving at a party in the same outfit as another guest can be viewed as a misfortune.
Wearing the exact same $8,500 (£4,300) costume as two others smacks of carelessness - at least possibly on the part of the suppliers of the “exclusive” garb.
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So how much of a fashion faux pas is it when three guests arrive in identical gowns, and then discover their host is wearing exactly the same number? A pretty large one, it would seem.
Luckily the hostess in question, Laura Bush, the first lady, had an extensive wardrobe at her disposal and was able to discreetly nip away to change.
The venue for the designer pile-up was Sunday’s star-studded Kennedy Centre Honours hosted by Mrs Bush and her husband, President George W Bush.
Glamorous guests included Dolly Parton, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Reese Witherspoon, Aretha Franklin, Tom Hanks, Joan Collins and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Footage of the arrivals showed three guests in the same red Oscar de la Renta embroidered tulle jacket and floor-length trumpet skirt from the designer’s autumn 2006 collection. It was also the outfit Mrs Bush had selected.
“Evidently Oscar is very popular this season,” Susan Whitson, Mrs Bush’s press secretary, told the Washington Post.
“It just goes to show that no one can resist a beautiful red gown.”
The guests laughed about it, she added. “But she [Mrs Bush] didn’t want her guests to feel uncomfortable,” so just before the gala began, the first lady slipped away and changed into a black lace number.
“It was the right thing to do, take the heat off the other women,” Letitia Baldridge, Jacqueline Kennedy’s chief of staff and White House social secretary told CBS news.
Despite the switch, however, the incident will not be immediately forgotten as Mrs Bush is also wearing the gown in this year’s official presidential Christmas photograph.
