A new website hopes to save guests at president-elect Barack Obama's inauguration¹ balls from the ultimate fashion faux pas -- wearing the same dress as someone else.

Dressregistry.com invites party goers to post the designer, color and length of their outfit² chosen for the dozens of January 20 inauguration bashes in Washington, DC.

"Our one goal is to lessen³ the chance that someone attending the same event as you will be wearing the EXACT same dress," organizers write on the website.

For example, anyone headed to the Commander-in-Chief Ball knows that someone else has got first dibs on a pink, ankle-length Adrianna Pappell dress with a plunging⁴ neckline.

The black Ralph Lauren cocktail⁵ dress is taken, ditto the strapless blue Amsale and silver, ankle-length Cachet.

The obvious problem with the scheme is that unless everyone registers their dress, guests will still be left wondering.

"We can make no guarantee that you won't have twin at your event, but at least we can try to eliminate such sad occurrences," the website warns.

Around 100 gowns were said to have been registered by inaugural⁶ revelers.

It was further revealed that the number kept soaring as the inaugural festivities drew near with mastermind Andrew Jones recording⁷ around "300,000 hits and more than 10,000 unique visitors since the Web site launched December 1.

美国当选总统奥巴马的就任典礼在即，一家“防撞衫网站”应运而生，目的是避免出席就职舞会的宾客们出现撞衫的尴尬。

总统就职仪式将于本月20日在华盛顿举行。这家Dressregistry.com网站邀请将出席宴会的宾客把自己所选礼服的设计师、颜色和长度发到网上。

该网站在其网页上写道：“我们的目的就是减小你与其他嘉宾撞衫的几率。”

目前，已登记的礼服包括AdriannaPappell粉红低胸齐踝长裙、RalphLauren黑色露肩酒会礼服和Cachet银色露肩长裙等等。

但很显然的一个问题是，除非每个嘉宾都将自己选择的礼服登记到网上，否则还是不能完全放心。

该网站提醒说：“我们不能保证万无一失，但至少能减少这种尴尬发生的几率。”

据悉，该网站上目前已登记了约100套礼服。

而且随着就职典礼的临近，登记人数还在不断上升，据网站创办人安德鲁•琼斯介绍，“自去年12月1日该网站创办以来，已吸引了1万多人注册和30万次点击量。”

Vocabulary:

faux pas: a social blunder（过失：社交方面的过失）

party goer:常常参加晚会的人

bash:痛快地玩乐；狂欢