It's the moment every person dreads—you walk into the room and someone else is wearing the same thing you are. High school students don't have to fret too much though, because their heroines are coming in the form of formal wear boutiques offering prom dress registries! While this may seem like an odd and totally #firstworldproblem thing to do, the truth is that the rationale behind these registries is actually quite sound.
There's no doubt that high school girls experience a heinous amount of pressure to measure up to their peers. That's not different when it comes to their prom dresses. While some may contend that dress registries came about as a result of girls wanting a one-of-a-kind dress, The Wall Street Journal really got to the deeper reasons behind that desire when they spoke with 17-year-old Madison Chalfant who explained, “Nobody wants to go to prom and play ‘Who wore it better?’" While the mindset that competition with one another is clearly damaging, registries do seem to help girls avoid that sort of conflict on the night of their prom.
For those in cities where there aren't formalwear shops willing to have a registry, social media-based registries are popping up. Facebook and Instagram are platforms through which girls can post photos of their dresses for their classmates, hopefully eliminating repeat dresses. Outside of the more negative connotations of dress registries, the feature is actually a cool way for girls to ensure that they'll remember the night because of how special they felt and how gorgeous they looked, not the embarrassing moment when someone else was wearing the same gown.
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