‘Tis the season of holiday parties, corporate and otherwise. On the longest night of the year my companion and I dropped in on the SPI Marketing holiday party at the Rootstein Mannequin Showroom on West 19th Street and 7th Ave in Chelsea.

Tres lifelike, no?

SPI Marketing throws their Christmas every year at the Roostein showroom, according to a confidential source. It is always a fabulous affair. Absolut, an SPI client, provides top shelf liquors, and the SPI staff come up with a theme and dress the mannequins.

This would look AWESOME on Angie Pontani

This year the theme was “Native Americans of the Great Plains,” which is a lot more glamorous than you would think from 50s movies or musty books in a South Dakota library. The mannequins were super sexy — as you can tell from the pictures. I think this is cuz they are both hot — high cheekbones, long lashes, skinny arms — and completely cold, colder than the virginally white snow drifts on the sidewalk (as of last night. Nothing stays clean for long in this town). Think the perfect protagonist for Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in Furs made even more perfect because she’s inanimate.

Venus in satins

And the best part is, they never grow old or die! Some highlights: I heard both Wham! ‘s Christmas song and a cover of that song. Gay couples dressed in matching outfits. One couple was in vests and ties, vintage (sort of) sneakers and skinny jeans. The other couple was in flanel shirts and jeans. Is Williamsbeard infecting gay culture? Fabulous h’ors d’oeuvres and a snarky server who looked at me like “you cow” every time I flagged him down to bring me one. Free — strong — cocktails served up courtesy of Absolut Vodka. And, of course, the fabulous outfits. Everyone there was wowed by the bead work. And whoever did the lights on the mannequins was a genius. Everywhere you looked you saw a tableau of star-crossed love and the tragedy of fame.