WHILE there was a subdued atmosphere at Saturday's Alliance party conference in Belfast, a spark of colour infiltrated its fringes. A glamorously clad woman advised delegates, on how to look good, if not feel good.
"It's all in the image," said this long standing member of the Alliance. Standing pretty at her "Colour Me Beautiful" stand amid stalls selling cakes and another purveying recycled goods, Ms Joan Rolston lectured on the value of looking good.
Using the refined, prosperous air of the party's leader Lord Alderdice and the elegant charm of the Liberal Democrat leader Mr Paddy Ashdown as examples, the cosmopolitan Ms Rolston stressed the important message, one's appearance sent to the public.
With a vivid array of scarves on display, she spoke of the increasing use politicians were making of "image consultants".
"We have just moved our London headquarters closer to the Houses of Parliament," she said.
The offer of colour analysis, style consultation and make up lessons did not seem to have many takers at Saturday's conference. Perhaps the well heeled delegates, many of whom were notably stylish, felt little need for such advice.
Certainly the suave deputy leader, Mr Seamus Close, tastefully attired in a youthfully vivid tie and equally striking kerchief in his breast pocket, was not impressed by the notion of image consultants.
"I feel people will not be taken in by false images," said Mr Close, who believed Tony Blair's "image" came across as a little insidious while John Major, who had a somewhat duller style was, in Mr Close's opinion, more attractive to women.
There were a few charming young men wafting around the conference room, but they were vastly outnumbered by the grey haired gang who seemed to take up half the chamber. One reporter, commenting on the large numbers of older delegates, cynically said: "It looks like this party is dying out."
But they were not all old hands. One dynamic young prospective, keen to make his mark, asked at the "press desk" if it was a facility to learn media skills. Disappointed to find it was merely a bench for reporters observing the conference, and perhaps slightly embarrassed, he said: "I'm a little new at this."
It wasn't all a serious affair. Many of the delegates had a little flutter on how many spoilt votes there would be at the next election.
One cynic predicted 10,500 but the party's dynamic young spindoctor, Mr Richard Good, opted for a precise, if more conservative, estimate of 4,647.