by ALEXANDER J. RATNER

There are many buzzwords used to describe the fashion high life, but only one to describe the freshman costume contest this past Friday in Annenberg: Fab-BOO-lous.

Indeed, Annenberg was the place to be on the night before Halloween. The scene was an eclectic mix of vanilla cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes, candy apples, and candy corn. In addition, freshmen had come dressed as everything from attention-hungry male prostitutes to desperately attention-hungry female strippers—and in between, some good, wholesome costumes as well, all ready to compete for Halloween glory.

As testament to the prestige of the event, the Washington University in St. Louis Men’s Soccer team had come all the way to Harvard to compete. Dressed as the Wash U. men’s soccer team, they bedazzled the catwalk with a dance to Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the USA”. “This was a great event—we just followed a girl in an angel costume here. She was short, blonde, hot,” said team member Peter G. Jebson. “My number is 734-904-0114.”

There were many others contending for the “Biggest Joke Costume” category. Jessica M. Ferri ’13 walked the catwalk as a human-sized TI-89 calculator. Brian W. Yang ’13, who had found most of his costume in his roommate’s wardrobe, was dressed as a nerd, going for the effective “laugh at me as a means of distancing yourself” strategy. Matthew J. Devino ’13, resplendent in a matte-green skin color and sporting a ravishing, form-fitting wardrobe to accompany, was dressed up as ‘The Lamonster’.

And, as was inevitable, there were some dangerous collisions—two Lady Gagas awkwardly circled the room in an attempt to mark out unique territories. “Oh, I thought she was Christina Aguiliera,” said Alexandru Chivescu ’13 of his competitor. “Everyone knows Lady Gaga doesn’t wear pants.