Like a film co-directed by Fellini and Pasolini, a twilight pastoral of silver-tongued decorum and orgiastic excess, White Party at Vizcaya has always been a fantasy-fueled evening limned by an elegiac escapism. For one thing, there’s the setting: a lushly-landscaped, thirty-acre Italian Renaissance-styled villa on Biscayne Bay. And then there are the guests: nearly two thousand visions in white, from centaurs and satyrs to angels and admirals, hustlers and hos—all wandering the formal gardens, sipping cocktails and champagne, beneath a nearly-full silvery moon. This is silver screen romance. This is the stuff that films are made of—and at White Party’s 25th anniversary, reality perfectly mirrored celluloid dreams.

Silver anniversaries merit celebration—and particularly when that twenty-five years has been spent fighting AIDS. For here’s the irony: while White Party celebrated its 25th glamorous year, the Centers for Disease Control revealed that more than 50% of newly-infected HIV individuals are under the age of 25. That’s right: the kids are not all right. And if that fact alone doesn’t galvanize area youth into action, then how about this one: Miami has the highest AIDS rate in the nation, with Fort Lauderdale the second highest, which means that 1 out of every 40 residents of those two counties is infected with HIV. Unlike most major US metropolitan areas, Miami’s AIDS cases increased last year. There it is, plain and simple: no other American urban area needs a strong AIDS service organization more than Miami/Fort Lauderdale—and that’s Care Resource’s raison d’etre.

Miami Beach Mayor Matti Bower was in the fabled James Deering palazzo, along with newly-elected commissioner Michael Gongora—as well as a number of other influential and powerful area residents, including newscaster Craig Stevens, Care Resource head Rick Siclari, Halo owner Babak Movahedi, Score principals Billy Kemp and Luis Morera, Winter Party Chair Chad Richter, and numerous other local players, all of them fully cognizant of the needs and demands facing our community in the battle against AIDS.

Given the losses our community has faced over the past 25 years—so many stunning people taken at the peak of their physical and creative beauty—it’s particularly fitting that White Party at Vizcaya traditionally evokes a vision of heaven. A heaven of hotties. A heaven of sugar plum fairies and white-feather winged angels. Heaven as overseen by hostess Elaine Lancaster, herself celebrating ten years of service (hush, now…) to Care Resource. Poured into a gown fitting like second skin, Elaine emanated the bubbly effervescence of a tall glass of champagne while gay flaneur Flavio Nisti promenaded as the Jack of Diamonds, complete with Swarovski-studded eye patch. As Mistress of Ceremonies atop the Casino Mount, the ever-fierce and always-gracious Miss Kitty Meow utilized her feline wiles to ingratiate herself to every tomcat on the prowl—as her equally sinuous and sultry sister, ChynaGirl, strolled the grounds with the languid languor of a supermodel on holiday.

Meanwhile, out on the East Terrace, above Vizcaya’s own private yacht landing, modeled after the 17th-century Villa Rezzonico near Venice, DJ/Producer Tony Moran worked a heavenly set of divine beats that kept the dance floor a flurry of feathers and sequins, satin and lace (as well as harnesses and whips…)—while one nubile nurse in white leatherette offered CPR to those who found their hearts beating too fast.

For no matter how many times you’ve found yourself at White Party at Vizcaya, the sight of such beauty gathered together in the name of good for one night can leave you breathless. Eight years ago, singing sensation and international superstar Kristine W. performed a flawless set atop the Casino Mount—and yet this year was her first opportunity to actually mingle amongst the guests—and as she remarked, “White Party is breathtaking.” The crown jewel of the circuit, White Party at Vizcaya serves as a harbinger of a future when AIDS has been vanquished—and angels have the night off.

Also seen wandering Elysium were sly Real World stunner J.D. Ordonez, and Brazilian heartbreaker Leo Neves, and comely Carlos Hernandez, and international deejay/producer Danny Tenaglia, giddy as a Cheshire cat, canary swallowed and content—all merrily cavorting amidst men swaddled in silver fox, and glitter-splattered sailors arm-in-arm with silver-harnessed admirals, and Elizabethan women in gowns of winter white.

Against a Dreamgirls backdrop of blue and silver lights, Expose performed their string of Billboard top ten hits, while atop the Casino Mount, gaming aficionados matched their skills against the croupiers—for over $5,000 in prizes. Throughout the gardens, White Party food sponsors such as Emeril’s and the Café at Books&Books proffered heavenly morsels: donuts from Donut Divas, ice cream from Todo Frio—and everywhere cocktails—by Grey Goose and Bacardi.

At evening’s end, ambling back down the main entrance road, winding through the subtropical jungle known in these parts as a hammock, it was easy to feel as if the angels of White Party were once again being released out into the world to do good, to do the right thing, to fight the good fight. Eighty-six cents of every White Party dollar raised provides treatment and services for those infected with HIV—proof indeed that angels walk amongst us doing the good work.