Chris O. Cook The Baroness and entourage.

The annual NYC Fetish Marathon kicked off last night in the basement lounge of One and One with a “Beat & Greet” thrown by fIXE Magazine. “We are the new mainstream,” said Cary Monotreme, the impresario of the fetish-pinup photo mag. “There’s a nut commercial with a dominatrix in it. I don’t know how much more mainstream you can get.”

Indeed, the atmosphere was one of a convivial dinner party thrown by old friends – that is, if one could mentally adjust to the revealing PVC gear sported by nearly all attendees and the occasional bound-up transvestite getting worked over on a giant X-cross. Once in a while, a band of vanillas inadvertently stumbled downstairs and got scared off, but their squeamishness was unwarranted, according to top-hatted longtime scenester Dale Whysper. “If you talk to the bouncers,” he boasted, “they’ll say, ‘We have fewer problems at your parties.’”

Chris O. Cook Tom Velez, aka Misfit.

Tom Velez, a.k.a. “Misfit,” of Flame Job, a tattoo shop on East Second Street, hawked a table of collars, floggers, and other BDSM gear, and handed out cards advertising custom-made vampire teeth – his true artistic passion. And a lucrative one, apparently. He had arrived to the party an hour late because he was so busy filling orders, he said.

Kink is not recession-proof, however. The party’s greeter, Ms. Special K, a brunette in a teeny vinyl dress and challenging fetish pumps, said she used to make good scratch as a “foot goddess” at foot-worship parties. These days, she said, not as many folks can spring for sole-sniffing sessions, even when it comes to arches as lovely as hers.

Chris O. Cook Special K and Cary Monotreme

Still, she defended the scene’s positive vibes. “The guys really are more respectful,” she beamed. “I went to Atlantic City once and a guy tried to grab my crotch – that would never happen here.” She also confirmed the stereotype that powerful men are “subbies” in private, revealing that most of her foot devotees had been doctors, lawyers, and Wall Street types. “See that guy?” she asked, pointing out an older gentleman kneeling on the floor dressed as a baby. “He’s an engineer.”

Special K’s boyfriend Powder, the organizer of the monthly Suspension “play party,” estimated that “the scene” is only about one-third hardcore lifestylers, with the rest getting kinky on the sly. “You’ve got these people who are like, ‘You know what, I’m not gonna find it on OKCupid,’” he said of normals with secret desires. “There are guys who want to have needles put in their penis. They can come to my party, find a girl, and they’re both happy.”

Chris O. Cook Machine Sex

East Village fetish-fashion designer The Baroness Varcra (whose legal first name, and the one she uses without a last name, is The Baroness) showed up at midnight towing a goateed gentleman on a leash and collar, but the guest of honor was Machine Sex, a bewigged and corseted beauty who is secretly a sweet gal from rural Pennsylvania (her neighbors raise chickens). fIXE paid her to attend the event, but she had no formal duties aside from hanging around looking scrumptious and receiving the occasional foot massage. Nice work if you can get it.

The NYC Fetish Marathon continues tonight at Webster Hall and Saturday with SMack!, a superhero-themed fetish ball at Gramercy Theatre, before culminating Sunday at the fourth-anniversary Suspension bash at The Delancey.