When Ian Hilder volunteered for a makeover his teacher wife Alison also got in on the act as Rosalind Ambler reports.

Achieving the age of 40 did not bring about a mid life crisis in Ian Hilder. His wardrobe, however, was judged by those close to him to be in need of expert counselling, which is how he comes to be Lifestyle's first male makeover.

Wife Alison, 39, who unlike Ian actually enjoys shopping, was fully in favour of this, provided she was given a new look too.

Ian is a self employed business development adviser, and when working from home dresses very casually unless he is meeting clients. He is quite often asked to run seminars, when he needs to look professional, but approachable and in touch.

Alison qualified as a teacher in 2002, and is in charge of a class of four-year-olds at St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School in Devizes. "My working clothes have to stand up to a lot of washing, as I get involved with paint, glue, and often am down on the floor with the children," she said.

The Hilders met at university in Southampton, and have been together ever since. "We met on a Thursday, and he went away that weekend. I didn't know if we would see each other again," said Alison. "But I did borrow a book from him, which was a smart move." They have now been married for 17 years, and have three daughters, Vicky, 13, Emily, 11, and Jenny who is eight.

After living in London and Norwich, they moved to Market Lavington nine years ago. Ian, who had a nomadic childhood, has never lived anywhere for such a long time before. "I'm finding myself decorating rooms for the second time around, which is very strange."

Lifestyle took the Hilders to Jolly's, the House of Fraser store in Bath. Sales advisor Paul did a very thorough measuring job on Ian in the store restaurant, while he was having a cup of coffee to fortify himself before the ordeal ahead. Ian then tried on a smart navy blue suit that fitted well, and thought that would be it and all was done and dusted. Oh no Ian, you don't get away with it that easily, particularly as Alison pointed out he already had a blue suit at home. The next number, in brown, he deemed to be 'very dodgy'. When asked to explain further, Ian made some pithy comments about used car salesmen, and that suit was abandoned. Finally he tried a suit in grey sharkskin, which was very stylish and fitted well, so that was selected. Paul then put forward possible shirts. "Ian never wears patterned shirts," explained Alison, which Paul took as a challenge, finally getting his charge into a light orange shirt with a red stripe, which rather to his surprise he liked.

He was not keen on the self-patterned tie in a matching orange that Paul suggested, and could not find another tie he liked either. It was agreed that nowadays a tie is by no means essential, and Ian opted for the open neck look.

"Not with the collar out, though, that looks like something out of Starsky and Hutch."

In contrast to Paul, Alison proved to be very talented at trying on outfits, whipping clothes on and off in a trice, and quickly making up her mind as to whether she liked them or not. Sales advisor Fran was kept busy providing clothes that could wash, and also were appropriate for teaching. "They cannot be see-through, or low cut." Alison was pleased to find that she often needed a smaller size in trousers and skirts than she expected, which Fran said was often the case with designer ranges.

One pretty skirt that was lined to the knee, and then fell in sheer flounces passed the acceptability test, but several white shirts were considered a bit too transparent.

Alison's second favourite outfit was a pair of cropped linen mix trousers by Linea. "Because I am quite tall I am wary of cropped trousers, as they can look like long trousers that didn't make it to my ankles. These ones do look good, though." These were set off by a couple of pretty tops, one a ruched cream shirt, the other short sleeved in pink.

Her favourite came from Irish designer Paul Costelloe, and was a pair of blue linen trousers with an interesting button detail slanting across each hip, with a navy and white striped top in a wonderful viscose and elastene fabric that fell beautifully, and would wash well.

Ian had not shaved for a couple of days, so that Scott at All Cut Up could give him a top notch shave.

This involved softening the beard with hot towels, lathering up with a traditional brush and then using a cut throat razor.

His hair is getting a bit thin on top and he had been getting Alison to shave his head all over as he has a horror of the 'strands across the pate' look, but he had let it grow all over in anticipation of his makeover.

Scott took the hairline really short, and textured the rest, to give shape and definition. That way if could lie flat when Ian wanted a respectable look.

Scott spiked it up to give a casual look, using Matrix Dirty Trix, a 'messy matte clay' product.

Alison's hair is fine and inclined to be wavy. It had some blonde colour on the ends, and she was concerned about the amount of grey through the natural mid brown colour. Lisa and Anna put slices of both warm and golden blonde through the hair, to give a sun kissed look, on top of a warm semi permanent colour that gave shine and covered up the grey.

Scott then shaped the hair tightly into the nape, leaving weight above to the crown.

The length was taken to the bottom of Alison's ears. The front hairline was softened with graduation and a fringe that blended with the top texture to give lift and accentuate the natural curl. The hair was then scrunch dried, using some Matrix Curl Life.

"Curly hair should always be left on the damp side," Scott advised Alison, and he told her she could just leave it to dry naturally.

Alison's cheeks have a tendency to flush, so Louise at All Cut Up put on a green tinged concealer under a light foundation, to reduce redness and even out the skin tone. A little concealer was used under Alison's eyes to even out dark areas.

Eye make up picked up the golden tones in Alison's hair, with a gold colour across the lids, bronze into the socket and creamy highlighter on the brow bone. The same creamy shimmer was used to highlight the cheekbones, blended into a covering of golden brown blusher.

Louise used a light brown lip liner to enhance the shape of Alison's lips, and blended it into a clear lip gloss, to give a very natural look, with more defined lip shape but no added colour.

Final outfits

Ian - Chester Barrie suit, in grey sharkskin, £350

Chester Barrie shirt £50

Alison Paul Costelloe linen trousers, £99

Paul Costelloe viscose top, £39

All from Jolly's

13 Milsom Street

Bath BA1 1DD

Tel 0870 160 7224