Oona’s, a Square costume and novelty clothing shop, also seemed to attract customers interested in revealing clothing.

“The whole pimp and prostitute thing is still hot,” said owner Karen White.

This season’s best-selling costumes featured characters from the movie The Royal Tenenbaums, according to both White and Amy L. Lewis of Planet Aid, another Square clothing shop.

“It’s either Margot Tenenbaum or the Ben Stiller character who wears a track outfit,” says Lewis, who notes that cross-dressing is also in style this year.

“We’ve had trouble finding dresses that fit [men], so we put them in strapless numbers to accommodate their shoulders,” she said.

As for more traditional Halloween activities, the College’s Prefect Program held a pumpkin carving contest last night in the Yard and Winthrop House hosted a scary story reading.

Many House masters will be hosting Halloween open houses tonight.

The College Greens, held a “HalloGreen” party featuring candy, a speaker and a documentary film about military conflict in Iraq.

“We wanted to highlight the things in the world that really are scary,” says Stephen H. Milder ’04, a member of the group’s steering committee.

—Staff writer Maria S. Pedroza can be reached at mpedroza@fas.harvard.edu.