When Yekaterina Yegorova wanted to know what some voters really thought of her client, Boris Yeltsin, she asked them to compare the Russian president to an animal.

The answers weren't pretty. "A wild boar" and "a dumb animal" were favorites with a group of women voters in central Russia. The kindest response was "a bear."

As Mr. Yeltsin's image maker, Mrs. Yegorova has the task of telling the president what voters really think of him and then winning those voters over. For all the rhetoric about reform vs. Communism, the key, Mrs. Yegorova says, is personality. "It's important to voters that he's tall, “imposing, authoritative," says the co-director of Niccolo M., a consulting firm whose initial stands for "Machiavelli."

Russian voters may complain bitterly about substance, such as late wages and low pensions, but they go for style as much as anyone else. Like many constituents everywhere, Russians want a leader who is sensitive but not wimpy, decisive not autocratic, and of course, well-dressed. Reared as gray Soviet bureaucrats, Russian politicians now are turning to a growing band of savvy image makers to coach and blow-dry them into elected office.

'Griminess Is Gone'

"The election has changed our leaders, and for the better," says Vyacheslav Zaitsev, Russia's premier couturier and designer for ultranationalist presidential also-ran Vladimir Zhirinovsky. "The past griminess of bureaucrats is finally gone."

Still, most candidates are squeamish about discussing the matter. Political insiders say a stigma remains attached to bringing in an outsider to micromanage a candidate's movements, words and look.

Some on Mr. Yeltsin's campaign staff deny he has, image makers. And in fact, Niccolo M. doesn't busy itself with the narrow aspects of image making, such as choosing Mr. Yeltsin's ties. It doesn't need to. Mr. Yeltsin is quite the fashion plate, wearing the Italian designer Trussardi's label the last time Mrs. Yegorova checked six months ago. "He's very clean. He changes his shirts twice a day," she says.

But Mrs. Yegorova, a psychologist who broke into politics by becoming a pollster, and her partner, economist Igor Mintusov, are credited with helping Mr. Yeltsin engineer a spectacular comeback in popularity. Niccolo M.'s research for the Yeltsin campaign last winter showed a nation that felt abandoned by its leader. Focus groups described Russia as a land of "the insulted and injured, the destitute." To rise from the political dead, Mr. Yeltsin needed to know when to play the competent statesman and when to be a dad.

For example, when Mr. Yeltsin visits regions that have been hit hard by reforms

and now support the Communists, Niccolo M. advises him to forget politics and just listen to average people's woes. "There are times when he should get up on stage, hold up his fist and say, 'Victory is ours,' " Mrs. Yegorova says. "And there are times when he should give people a hug."

Taking Greater Pains

The Communist Party concedes that it hired image makers for Gennady Zyu-ganov, Mr. Yeltsin's rival in the second-round vote now a week away. But party spokesman Mikhail Molotsov would say only that "Gennady Andreyevich has image makers, but they do not associate with the press." It is clear that the 52-year-old Mr. Zyuganov has been taking greater pains about his wardrobe in recent months; although he is a staunch protectionist, he seems to have made an exception for his own European sports coats.

Mr. Zhirinovsky's campaign staff maintains that their candidate "does

everything himself." But Mr. Zhirinovsky did farm out fashion decisions to Mr. Zaitsev. "He wanted something distinctly Russian, so I thought back to the military-style jackets of the 20s, the 30s, like Stalin, only in new colors," says Mr. Zaitsev, who, despite his involvement in the campaign, still plans to vote for Mr. Yeltsin.

If Mr. Zhirinovsky chose to underscore his traditionally brassy image, then retired Gen. Alexander Lebed has worked to shed a harsh persona. A surprise third-:

place finisher in the 11-man first vote and! now the head of Mr. Yeltsin's powerful i security council, Mr. Lebed once favored. his military uniform and bangs combed i forward a la Julius Caesar.