A female fashion model in a leather outfit struts down a makeshift runway in the auditorium at Roscoe Pound Hall. She sports a Russian-style cap terned with sparkles that spell out the afternoon's motif: "trendy."

Welcome to the first-ever Harvard Law School Fashion show, brought to you by Saks Fifth Avenue and the Law School's Student Committee for Sports and Entertainment.

Veritas and the well-dressed came together Saturday afternoon as a spiffy, standing room only crowd from many Boston-area colleges converged upon a model university to watch students model.

Putting on The Saks

Eleven professionals and six young girls from the Boston Ballet Company performed alongside eight amateur student models. About 700 older spectators paid $10 apiece to watch the 45-minute extravaganza, which netted $600 to bring guest speakers to the Law School.

"I thought it was one of the most exceptional events I've been to in my 40 years working for Saks Fifth Avenue," said Jerry Soodek, Northeast merchandising coordinator for the clothing store that co-sponsored the event.

"I was especially impressed with the audience's enthusiastic reactions," he said, drawing a contrast to the blase response usually accorded by Manhattan's more "jaded" fashiongoers.

And Sebastian Hoppe, the second-year JD/MBA candidate who triumphantly transformed his year old brainchild into reality, made sure everyone who attended went away happy. Each member of the crowd received a bottle of French perfume by Molinard and the current issue of M magazine as they entered the auditorium.

Fantasy Affair

The piece de resistance, a trip for two to Jamaica, was raffled off at the end of the show.

The upscale gifts closely matched the tenor of the crowd, which sometimes appeared more sartorially snazzy than the people onstage.

Doris Yaffe of Saks, who helped organize the show, dismissed suggestions that it was elitist or directed toward an affluent crowd.

"You might call it elitisim; I call it fantasy," Yaffe said. "Fashion is fantasy."

Yaffe said that "only four things in the show are from designers" and that students could afford "most of the clothes shown." Even the segment of the show featuring "fun furs" showcased outfits that the average Harvard student could manage, she said.

For at least one of the amateur models, participating in the fashion show was "the most fun I have had since high school."