Way to Play This Halloween

It's all about blood and sex again this year as students prepare for the pagan holiday that never ceases to be fashionable.

Teletubbies Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po may be top-sellers this season in the pre-school market, but adults this year are coveting blue cocktail dresses, cigars and berets.

Unfortunately for aspiring brunettes out there, the infamous Gap dress in stores last summer is no longer available.

Even more disheartening, while Clinton mask are available everywhere rubber Lewinsky likenesses are virtually impossible to find.

"Everyone wants Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky," said Paul Blum, owner of Abracadabra in Manhattan's West Village, "but there's no mask for Lewinsky."

Blum, whose 12 year-old store is now widely considered one of the best costume shops in the country, said customers have even been asking for cigar costumes.

Not surprisingly, dressing the part of a psychopathic murderer is as popular as ever. The season's preferred killer is the Woodsboro High butcher made famous by Wes Craven Scream movies, according to the distributing manager of Halloween Adventures in the Cambridgeside Galleria.

In contrast to yesteryear's elaborate Freddie Kruger gloves or many-holed Friday the 13th hockey masks, "The Scream" role calls for a white mask vaguely reminiscent of Edvard Munch's painting The Scream, a black robe and a kitchen knife. All are available at Halloween Adventures for $12.

Hidden in a little corner on Mass. Ave. opposite the Barker Center, Oona's, a used clothing store, largely serves the Harvard community for the Halloween costume rush.

The store gives free costume consultations. Although most students usually wait until the last minute to buy, trends are already emerging.

"Anything that has anything to do with the Twenties is popular," said Kathleen M. White, the original owner of the 26-year-old store.

Oona's sells costumes from as low as $5, with a $90 Flapper-era dress at the high end of the price range.

Although '70s costumes are popular as always, Oona's is not immune to the Lewinsky boom.

The store has already sold out of three dozen berets and has had customers asking for Lewinsky-style dresses.

White also remarked that Harvard students, always apt to multi-task, not only want to dress up-they want to look good.

"Nobody wants to look bad here. Nobody wants the bugged-out eyes [costume]."