biggest challenges for people today.

And this goes for men and women of any age who are either in the work force, are recently retired or are stopping working to stay at home with children.

It can be a real chore trying to figure out what outfits, suits and colours complement your figure or what gives you that professional or casual look.

But image consultant Annabella Fraser says you don't have to do anything drastic: it may just take a change in colour coordination, a new haircut or the right make-up.

According to Ms Fraser, image consulting is a combination of art and science.

The scientific part is an analysis of a person's colours and their figure type in order to choose the types of clothes that most flatter their body.

"The artistic side is when you coordinate the colours that suit a person with their personality type and lifestyle,'' she said. "For instance, you might have a small, petite blond woman who is a banker and whose personal style is romantic which does not fit in with the style that her line of work requires.

So the challenge would be to give such a person more authority.

"I would do that by making sure her suits were dark colours and more tailored than what that woman would normally choose and make sure that her jewellery was of good quality and had some status to it.

"The object of giving a small person the look of more authority is difficult because you have to be careful not to overwhelm them with a style that is not really complementary to their nature.'' Ms Fraser said another example would be a tall, rugged young man working outside in the Parks department, who personally likes loose and casual clothing who has been offered a job as a supervisor.

"Putting him in a three-piece suit would be inappropriate because it is the opposite of what he is comfortable in and the nature of his new job doesn't call for an ultra-classic look. This person needs what is known as a sporty natural style of management.

"Clothing such as corduroys, tweed jacket, a button down shirt which has a texture as opposed to a fine lawn shirt which would be more appropriate for the banking type, would be suitable.

"The challenge for an image consultant is to marry the personal preferences with the person's goals.'' Ms Fraser's background is in art. When she was 17, she attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

"I have a degree in graphic art and I also have an advertising background,'' she said. "I have been interested in transformation for a long time. I spent ten years doing stage make-up for the BMDS and that got me interested in the makeup side of things.

"When I was in Boston last year I found the perfect company -- Beauty for all Seasons -- which is an international company dedicated to image consulting.

That is where I trained.

"This company teaches consultants how to analyse the appropriate colours for their clients. You match the skin, hair, and the eyes of the individual by using numbered swatches then I call the head company which will tell me which "season'' the person falls into.

"Seasons are categories which image consultants use to define which colour combination an individual belongs to.'' Ms Fraser is offering two courses -- entitled "Look Great, Feel Better and Save Money'' -- at the Bermuda College to help people to enhance their look.

The first one night a week, six week course, will be for men. It starts on Monday. The second, for women, will be eight weeks long, starting on March 3.

"(The men's course will include distinguishing body types, what colour flatters the individual, how to analyse your wardrobe, work with goals of individuals, hairstyles and glasses style.

"The women's course which starts on March 3 will be eight weeks -- one night a week -- because I think women would want to spend more time with hairstyles and jewellery. Also, there are more body types for women (ten) and five for men.

"The object of the class is to help people look their best and to give the opportunity to plan for how they want to look and give them the steps in order to achieve that.

"The first thing they have to do is analyse what they are doing now as far as occupation, the second thing is to analyse the clothes they currently have, then make a list of clothes they require and figure out the missing pieces.'' Ms Fraser said often a good transitional move is to separate the elements of their business suits and start to mix and match their jackets, skirts and slacks with either more casual items in their wardrobe or a select few new pieces in casual wear.

"These courses will benefit men and women of any age because they will look great. Once someone has their colours done they are able to mix and match their clothes to a greater degree because all their clothes become either `cool' or `warm'.''