HOME DEPOT FOR DRAG QUEENS

[June 8th, 2005] In Portland, one of the gayest cities on Planet Earth, mere inches from Southwest Stark Street, our gayest roadway, a brand-new "beautique" has swung open its doors just in time for next week's Pride festival. Hands down, Madame Bouffant is the gayest store in town. Here's why it's worth checking out-whether you're gay or just like to dress that way.

* MB's owner flips her wig-regularly. The blond-tressed Stefanie Pinniger-a.k.a. Madame Bouffant-might be 31 and a married mother of two, but she has the energy of a 12-year-old. (Pinniger credits her 10-year-old daughter, Zena Rae, for coining the name Madame Bouffant.) The shopowner says she's been fascinated with wigs her whole life, but it wasn't until she was 20 that she found the courage to don a fake hairpiece. "I paid $17 for an alter ego," says Pinniger about her first burgundy bob. "I felt like a female drag queen."

* MB is an over-the-top "wig shop." A former jane-of-all-trades for a local image maker, Pinniger terms her Southwest Alder Street storefront a "princess palace." To wit, the space is dipped floor-to-ceiling in Pepto-Bismol pink, and trimmed in 20 yards of fake white fur. Add the color shock of a dozen or so deliciously flavored synthetic wigs, from primary green to smokin'-hot blue, and you've got a space that looks as if Barbie just threw up in her dream house.

* MB caters to fun-loving freaks of nature. Pinniger is inspired by the queer community's most outrageous characters but also likes to work with the capricious crowdsters who travel to out-there events like Burning Man. She's already done plenty of cool stuff for the kids of Kaosmosis, P-town's answer to the Merry Pranksters, at their bacchanalian blowouts.

* MB is affordable. In the near future, Pinniger plans to add more "normal" colors and styles to her line of unusual wigs. Custom wigs start at about $100, while more standard styles cost in the $35-$70 price range. "You don't have to be a drag queen to enjoy them," she says.

* MB welcomes challenges. "My favorite thing to do is design wigs," Pinniger says. "I love when people ask me to make something out of a noun." Just one example is the four separate hairpieces she brought together to make one square-shaped boom box.

* MB supports community. Pinniger's big, fat, pink wigmobile will make its debut at the Pride parade on June 19, and then will wind its way over to Holocene for the Stonewall benefit on June 28. "It's too big to be a soapbox derby car," says Pinniger of the 8-by-6-foot bewigged behemoth. "If you see us, make sure to holla' back."