The confidence business

Mary Spillane trades on the insecurity of other women. She freely admits her company's £6 million annual turnover is based on clients' unhappiness with their self-image but argues that altering public attitudes is not her responsibility.

"I can't change the fact that today's imagery often represents a perfection none of us can achieve. What I can do is give some coping skills to women and make them realise they have some fabulous features they can make the most of."

Spillane offers "coping skills" through CMB (Color Me Beautiful), the European business she started 15 years ago in London. An image-consulting organisation providing advice to individuals, companies and politicians on how to present themselves, CMB begins with the premise that your appearance influences how you are perceived by others.

In addition, Spillane suggests, "many psychologists would concur that a bit of make-up or a change of look can be better than therapy through overnight benefits. The world notices you, your friends compliment you - it provides a shot of visibility. The better you look, the better and more opportunities, whatever they might be." A fourth generation Irish-American, Spillane has a breezily optimistic nature based on the belief that improvement is always possible. She applies this notion to herself: "I'm a munchkin, just five foot three, long in the body, short on the legs and with a jaw you could hang a hat on."

Naturally, she does not allow these physical characteristics to inhibit her. "I definitely don't go for the usual petite styles with little flowers and delicate shades. I wear strong colours and always a good two-inch heel, generally chunky so that I can walk all day. I wear jackets to my hips and neutralise the bottom half, so that means no voluminous and baggy trousers." She brings the same clear eye to her clients.

"There are three or four whizz-bang tricks for figure problems you can use and the world is none the wiser. Just camouflage it, no matter what's happening in fashion. Forget fashion; find out what suits you." Disdain for passing trends has always been a feature of the CMB organisation. Spillane first came across the concept when she moved to Britain after marrying an Englishman in the early 1980s. Having trained in management at Harvard University, she worked for the US government and the United Nations, but "I couldn't translate this experience into work in England".

The original colour concept, based on the idea that everyone could be categorised as belonging to one of four "seasons", came from the US. "It had some gaps and I felt it wasn't good enough just to tell people what colours to wear - besides anything else, you wouldn't necessarily find them in any one season. So, we had to develop a programme and training in fashion, tailoring and beauty, learning about body shape and proportion."

The notion of self-betterment tends to win an audience more readily on the other side of the Atlantic and Spillane says she initially encountered some resistance in the fashion and beauty press. "But the women were different; they turned up in droves and wrote thousands of letters to me after my first book. We earned our fees, and still do so, by encouraging women to look in the mirror. "We're in the confidence business. Women need a lot more advice on achieving what they want to achieve. You need a wardrobe for the life you want.

Now that we're heading for the millennium, our clients have greater confidence; they know that the right image can drag a personality right out of its shell." Right now, make-overs enjoy enormous public popularity. They were always among the favourite items on RTE television's Head To Toe and similar programmes in Britain such as BBC's Style Challenge are deluged with applicants looking to have their image overhauled.

Spillane was fortunate to discover the CMB concept at the right moment and she has smartly capitalised on her success. The company has an Irish division with a head office in Dublin and some 40 CMB consultants around the country. Anyone who wishes to join the group has first to invest in a training programme and then attend several additional workshops annually to be informed of changes and updates in the company's operations.

CMB does better in some countries than others. In addition to Britain and Ireland, it is particularly well-received in Germany and Scandinavia. On the other hand, France and Italy have proved less successful markets, probably because their people tend to have a more positive self-image from an early age. "Women in those countries are different. Right from the start, they learn to bother, to appreciate design and texture."

At the moment, CMB's greatest growth is in the corporate sector where she advises companies such as Marks & Spencer, Barclays, Price Waterhouse and IBM.

"We coach staff on a host of personal presentation skills and how to be effective quickly. In the area of retail consultation, we teach staff a little of what we do so that they in turn can advise women more directly." According to Spillane, the essence of her philosophy is to make all clients think just as positively about themselves and their image as she does of her own. Accentuate the positive could be her mantra - "I'm incorrigible in that sense."

To those who would argue her business only bolsters up an irrational and unfair status quo, she responds with a cool pragmatism. "Sure, some people say `the world should accept me as I am.' Well, I answer `good luck to you' but in the meantime, here are some easy tricks to help." She is equally dismissive of charges that her business produces a certain homogeneity in appearance. "No way can we clone folks because no two women are the same. Different personalities is the whammy in this and that's where we always start from."

Every consultation begins with a questionnaire examining the client's personality and no one is pushed into accepting CMB's suggestions. "If they're marginal when it comes to colouring and feel uncertain about what has been proposed, then we'll go with them." Spillane believes the success of her company is the strongest argument in its favour. "We're a thriving business," she explains "because women love what we do."

Makeover Manual by Mary Spillane is published by Macmillan this week at £16.99 in the UK.