Our sartorially challenged new Taoiseach will have to brush up on the personalgrooming if he’s going to be the acceptable face of modern Ireland. We askedthree styling gurus and our graphic geniuses to show him his true potential

Pat Henry - fitness guru

Brian was well able to train hard when he was with us. Now, he needs to get into a regime of training three times a week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday should be spent doing a cardio workout, using light weights for a maximum time of 45 minutes.

With this regime, he shouldn’t be using heavy weights, things should be kept extremely light.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he would need to go for a walk — four miles in one hour should be his target.

From a guy’s point of view, if you want to lose weight, the secret is, in week two, to cut out rice, pasta, potato, bread, sweetcorn, beetroot, bananas, popcorn, fizzy drinks and alcohol (the least fattening drinks are whiskey, gin and vodka, with a mixer of slimline tonic). You should do that for a week or two. Also, we recommend taking a day each week to eat only fruit — a cleansing diet of pears or grapes and water and nothing else. We also advise taking a break on a Sunday to give your system a chance to get over the shock of being on a diet.

It’s also advised to drink lukewarm water with a drop of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.

We have a target of dropping a stone in six weeks. If you lose any more than a stone, you’re just losing water, you’re not losing body fat. Medically, they maintain you should only lose 2lbs a week.

The book I would recommend for people like Brian who are always eating out while attending different functions is Dine Out and Lose Weight by Michel Montignac. He was the originator of a programme that suits different business people. It means you can go out and have any lunch or dinner you want in some of the nicest restaurants in town, but you can still stay on the programme and lose weight. We have seen great results with people who are constantly eating on aircraft and in the top restaurants.

Considering Brian will be such a busy man, the best time for him to exercise is first thing in the morning — probably about 6am.

Michael Doyle - grooming guru

It’s time for Brian Cowen to up the ante in terms of grooming. There are going to be late nights and early mornings from now on and nobody can go out with raw skin. Brian needs a good make-up artist who can show him how to effectively use concealer and a little bit of bronzer. These are products he should be using every day. They will remove the redness and high colour in his face ensuring a clearer, fresher-looking skin tone, without giving him a make-up look. MAC does a great concealer — it even has a men’s range.

Nasal-hair trimming is a must. The hairy ears need to go. His brows should be taken down in size — trimmed not shaped. He still wants to look manly.

He has got thick hair and thick facial features. It’s all about proportions and removing bulk to create a tailored look. He needs to have weight taken out of his hair without taking from the length. If he got the cut right, any potential greying shouldn’t be a problem.

His hair, at all times, should be groomed, using specifically designed products. He needs something for hold. He’ll be getting in and out of cars and he won’t want his hair blowing in the wind, particularly when there are snappers about the place. A Redken range called 06 has a very light gel that won’t make the hair look wet.

The heavy glasses don’t help his overall aesthetic either. I would recommend that he invest in contact lenses or discreet-framed glasses.

It would do no harm to have some Botox done around the eye area and forehead. He should definitely get manicured. To be honest, he shouldn’t even have to think twice about those kind of things — they should be a given. If you look at Clinton, Blair or Sarkozy, they all have a very polished look.

He should be using anti-ageing creams. There’s a great range brought out by No7, which is available in Boots. The anti-ageing serum Protect and Perfect would be great for him. There was a TV programme recently comparing expensive and cheap beauty products and Protect and Perfect came out ahead of Creme de la Mer.

You see so much mouth with Brian Cowen, that it’s imperative he get his teeth professionally whitened. The mouth needs to be looking clean and glossy. I have yet to hear of anyone getting lip reduction. I wonder is that possible?

Anyway, he is representing Ireland internationally, so he needs to lose his culchie attitude to male grooming. He now has a responsibility to look well.

Liadan Hynes - style guru

Derek Davis once commented that a fat man can look like an unmade bed. He could have been describing Brian Cowen's sartorial history. To date, being the straight-talking, no-nonsense bruiser to Bertie's people-pleasing charm offensive has been enough, but, now, as leader of the country, he needs to reassess his look. We want more from our Taoiseach than pinstriped suits, or dull grey ensembles. Cowen needs to play to his strengths and emphasise his size, not seem embarrassed by it.

For formal Dail occasions, he needs to take inspiration from American politicians, who understand the subtle look of understated luxury a leader should adopt. Key to the look are a navy suit, a crisp white shirt, and a solid colour tie, neither too thin nor too fat. This is the only time when yellow is acceptable to wear . . . the tie, not suit, obviously.

Off duty, it's important that Cowen should display a softer, more relaxed side, while still giving off an air of authority. Bush, for example, taps into the American national psyche most successfully when he's enjoying downtime on the ranch, in his denims.

Now, no one wants to see Brian in a denim shirt, but it’s important for a man of his age and position to show he has a softer, private, relaxed side. But he has to show that this side is still in charge — even when doing casual, he should be smart, pared down, never streelish. So, for the local pub, he should take Tony Soprano — charming, relaxed, but deadly — as a role model. It's a classic look — slacks, a good shirt, and a sports jacket or Harrington coat — and should express quiet power. Definitely not the thrown-together navy blazer and greywool slacks ensemble he currently favours.

At first glance, international occasions seem to be a potential minefield, up with all those natty little Europeans and their Alexander McQueen-clad supermodel wives. Not so. Like Tony Soprano, Brian should always emphasise a quiet, underlying strength. He is an alpha male, and can make the others look like small fry.

Of course, for the actual summit, he will be wearing a navy suit, but for the all-important strolling-on-the-beach photoop, an occasion when Ireland has been so badly let down in the past in the shape of a lemon linen suit, Cowen should look to a label such as Magee for a classic but modern take on Irishness. Either a heavily worsted linen, or wool-tweed jacket, depending on the season, to be worn with expensive chinos, and a good — ideally not linen — shirt.

Dressed successfully, Brian can subtly play to his size, and instead of looking awkward, achieve a quiet dominance.