Harvard undergraduates strutted their stuff this weekend at the Sheraton Commander during the "Buy Boston" Fashion Show "Vogue" Benefit Semi-Formal Dance.

Nearly 500 students watched 20 of their peers model tailored jackets, mid-thigh skirts and platform shoes at the event sponsored by the Asian American Association (AAA) Friday night.

The crowd seemed to enjoy the show, as they laughed at segments such as a re-enactment of the lyrics to "Uptown Girl" and the entry of male models in black leotard who performed pelvic thrusts to the song "I'm Too Sexy".

Although the majority of the models and observers were Asian, a number of people from other ethnic backgrounds participated in and attended the event, according to Haewon Hwang '95, who is one of AAA's two social chairs.

"I was happy about the diversity of people that showed. It achieved every goal that I wanted," Hwang said. "People walked out with a strong sense ofunity."

Hwsng and Abbas Hyderi '95, AAA's other socialchair, coordinated the evening's events. And eventhough the models rehearsed extensively for twoweeks, Hwang said they were "getting nervous backstage before the performance."

"A lot of people had never danced before so wespent hours on the choreography and looking atvideos," said Grace T. Wang '93, one of themodels.

Wang said she enjoyed working on the show andin the end, all of the effort put into thechoreography paid off. "It could have been a showwithout the clothes," Wang said.

Boston designers Geoffrey B. Small, Andy Chan,Tunji Dada, Nong Lahcen, Neil Helme created theclothes displayed during the show. All of thedesigners were present, and said they were pleasedwith the production.

Before the fashion show began, the organizersand Geoffrey B. Small addressed some of thecontroversies surrounding the event. Issues rangedfrom the idea of a fashion show being toofrivolous for an academic community to amisunderstanding about a 5'6" height requirement,which was never enforced.

In addition to celebrating Asian-Americanculture, the show raised funds for the BatteredAsian Women's Shelter, which offers bilingualservices to Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodianwomen trapped in violent homes. The show alsointended to raise awareness about hard economictimes in the Boston.

The dance that preceded the fashion showcontinued after the show ended. Smoke machines setoff a fire alarm, forcing evacuation of thebuilding and bringing the evening to an earlyclose.

Susie B. Hwang '95 contributed to thereporting of this article.CrimsonHaibin Jiu