In preparation for school dances, girls often create Facebook groups dedicated to preventing other girls from wearing the same dress to a school dance. These pages, like the Facebook group recently made by the junior class, give girls a place to post pictures of their dresses and “claim” dresses for themselves.

I acknowledge that these are attempts to bond girls together, but in reality, I think it’s a waste of time.

First of all, how does this work? Hypothetically, if I purchased a dress two months ago, and Sally Jo bought the same dress two weeks ago but posted the picture on the Facebook page first, who gets to wear it? Who decides who gets to wear the dress?

What if someone – an imaginary person named Susan- spent $200 on a dress only to find out that she “couldn’t wear it” because Betty Ann bought the same dress and posted a picture of it first, therefore claiming the exclusive, sole right to wear the dress? Will Betty Ann reimburse Susan for the $200 spent on the first dress and provide her a stipend to purchase another dress?

I sincerely hope someone answers my questions.

Furthermore, who cares if two people wear the same dress? I don’t like when people have the same things as me, but if I love something, for example, a Ring dress, I’m not going to refuse to wear it just because another girl “claimed it.”

On another note, what are the consequences of violating this sacred agreement of claiming dresses? In my personal experiences, a girl may receive some glares rude comments if she wears the same dress as another girl, but beyond that, there is no real consequence.

In fact, I distinctly remember an incident that happened when I was in sixth grade. My middle school was directly attached to a high school, and as a result, the middle school knew all the high school gossip. In order to preserve the “honor” of the two girls I am about to discuss, I shall not name them.

Girl A bought a dress and posted a picture of it on a similar page, only this Facebook group was for the purpose of making sure no one wore the same dress to Prom. Girl B saw the dress on the Facebook page and liked it so much that she went and bought it. When Girl B wore Girl A’s dress to prom, it was a scandal.

Once the girls finally got to Prom, however, they didn’t care. They went to the dance, had a good time, and looked and felt great in their dresses.  They showed their grade that at the end of the day, it’s not important if you have the same dress as someone, as long as you feel pretty and comfortable in it.

It’s just a dress, and some things are more important than whether or not you wear the same dress as someone else.  A Facebook page dedicated to preventing outfit repeating isn’t effective or practical. This situation doesn’t even make sense. It’s petty, worthless, and in my opinion, it’s just an excuse for girls to show off their dresses, for girls to gossip about other girls and their dress selections, and for girls to start drama.

Stop wasting your time. It’s not the end of the world if you wear the same dress as someone. Don’t waste a fraction of a minute scrolling through that page to double check that you don’t have the same ring dress as someone – I’m sure you have better things to do.

Grace Mottley is a News Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.