Showing off a bit of skin

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Tank tops, flip-flops, bare flesh and cleavage.

It's the unofficial uniform of the summer interns, gaggles of college-age women and recent graduates who invade buttoned-down conservative Washington every summer, bringing a large dose of hotitude to offices from Capitol Hill to K Street.

They're known as "skinterns." Those who think "belly shirts" are career wear. If the devil wears Prada, the skinterns wear nada. As if Washington wasn't sweltering enough.

"All the guys I worked with here, they would love it when the weather got warm for that very reason. 'Ooohhh, the interns are coming,' " said Elizabeth Conatser, a Washington fundraiser, lunching with a friend at Le Bon Cafe near Independence Avenue.

An estimated 20,000 interns descend on the nation's capital every summer, and they are easy to spot.

Lindsey Marburger, in skimpy black tank top, flowered skirt and flip flops, was sitting at an outdoor table at Le Bon Cafe.

"The Smithsonian doesn't care what we wear," she said, flipping her shoulder-length auburn hair. She's a 20-year-old student at American University and interning for the Smithsonian. "Honestly, I don't see the problem with flip-flops."

Miss Marburger said her college offered a seminar on intern etiquette (including wardrobe advice), but she did not attend.

"I'm from Washington state, and my friends are like, 'You can't wear jeans to work?'"

The admittedly naive interns dress provocatively -- in miniskirts, stiletto heels, low-cut spandex tops, but they quickly become aware of their effect on the testosterone level in Washington offices.