The pre-frosh sitting next to me couldn't stop his mouth from dropping open in awe as a parade of lingerie-clad girls scampered down the runway. "So," his first-year host asked him with a sly grin, "think you wanna to come to Brandeis next year?" SKIN, the highly anticipated fashion show that the Brandeis Asian American Student Association puts on once a year was in full swing, and the answer was yes, the pre-frosh was definitely choosing Brandeis. The SKIN fashion show is a part of the month-long celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and its goal is to demonstrate the talents of Asian American designers while celebrating diversity by using student models from different races and ethnicities. All of the proceeds of the night were donated to The Hunger Project, a non-profit organization striving to end world hunger by implementing programs that encourage people to lead more self-reliant lives. Though these are all important and serious goals, the SKIN fashion show was anything but serious. Gorgeous Brandeis students sashayed down the catwalk to the pulsing beats of electronic hip-hop, some with more skill than others, but all with an excellent sense of fun. Cat calls such as "Take it off!" and "Ow oww!" could be heard from the enthusiastic crowd, which only further encouraged the already confident models. The clothing displayed ranged from casual wear, to formalwear and lingerie, with additional accessories such as sneakers designed by the talented Ari Tretin '12. Though the exaggerated hair and makeup that the models wore was extremely high-fashion, most of the clothing was both stylish and wearable. Students modeled colorful cropped jackets, bright bubble dresses, impossibly high heels and beautiful scarves and ties by designer Rachel Park.

One of the most surprising aspects of the event was how blatantly sexual it was. Male models walked shirtless with lipstick marks on their necks and knowing grins on their faces that practically screamed, "I know I'm sexy!" Meanwhile, the female models strutted down in lingerie that was so risqué it made me, an avid Cosmopolitan reader who doesn't color easily, blush! Still, it was very entertaining watching the models pout, kiss and wink their way down the aisle, pulling scarves out of their bras and at one point even pulling underwear out of a pair of cargo shorts. I wondered if my Jewish Orthodox background (where in high school I would have been sent home if I wore a skirt above my knees) might have affected how surprised I was; but guessing by the looks of shock and delight in the crowd, I wasn't alone.

Though the event itself wasn't a complete success, (the crowd was sparse, at points the models looked like they didn't know what they should be doing and there were long interludes where the crowd was left staring at a blank runway) it was still a very fun show to watch, and by the looks of it, a very fun show to be a part of. During the longer intermissions, the crowd was entertained by two amazing dance performances: one artistic number performed to Jason Mraz's "Details in the Fabric" by Nika Vizcarra '10 and one entertaining hip-hop performance by Brandeis dance troupe Kaos Kids. But the real entertainment stemmed from watching your friends and that hot guy you always stare at in math class be transformed into models. For a school that is notorious for having unattractive students (ever hear the term "Brandeis Goggles"?) SKIN proved that Brandeis is hotter than people think. Coordinator Stephanie Lau '11 perfectly sums it up, stating, "There are confident, attractive people at Brandeis who know how to work a catwalk!