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First lady and three others wear the same $8,500 Oscar de la Renta dress to a White House party. The ladies should have had a sense of humor and taken a photo together.

(CBS) WASHINGTON It's always one of the biggest nights in Washington for stars and for glamorous fashion, with guests in the spotlight at an exclusive White House holiday reception. The designer gowns are always scrutinized, and on this year's bash, there was plenty to talk about.

Three women donned the exact same $8,500 red Oscar de la Renta dress, a fashion faux pas in itself. But that's just the beginning of this debacle of ladies in red.

It just so happened that First Lady Laura Bush was wearing the very same dress too.

Letitia Baldridge, Jacqueline Kennedy's Chief of Staff and White House social secretary says the gown was beautiful, but triple the trouble was quite the mess.

"They all should have congratulated one another on their good taste and the fact that they could afford the dress," Baldridge says. "Jacqueline Kennedy, when she was first lady made sure, and her couturiers made sure that nobody else wore that dress that season. "

So the question arises: how could this have happened? More importantly, if you're going to break out the big bucks for the beauty, wouldn't you want to be confident you're the only one wearing it -- especially if you're the first lady?

The debacle led Mrs. Bush to make an executive decision.

"She went upstairs and changed, very easy for her to do. It was the right thing to do, take the heat off the other women," Baldridge says.

Mrs. Bush's office said the mid-course correction was a first and that both she and the president got a kick out of it.

As for the three ladies who didn't have the ability to change while they were there?

"Oh I would have laughed and laughed and I would have said, 'Listen I'm not going to stand next to her because I'm fatter than she is,'" Baldridge says. "But other than that I think it's a hoot."

Despite the fact that Mrs. Bush changed, the incident won't be forgotten any time soon. That's because she was still wearing the dress when she was photographed for this year's official presidential holiday photo.

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