You won’t read his full story in a book any time soon. He’s singing his tales through original music and photographs in intimate performances. He’s performing now through this weekend in San Francisco, and June 19-23 in New York City.

Now meet Peter Asher through a fashionable lens.

When you started performing as Peter and Gordon, was there a switch in your style? I think even before at school, you wanted to look good at school. Where Gordon and I went to school, we were obliged to wear grey suits and white shirts. But the trick was to see how tightly you could taper your trousers before they complained. Where were you shopping at that time? The customized thing, we’d just go to the cheapest tailor we could find. Other than that we shopped on Carnaby Street. It was through The Beatles we met [their tailor] Dougie Millings who made our stage suits. He made their stage suits and we liked the way they looked. You’d use this shiny material called Tonic. Shiny and tight. Luckily we were young and thin then.

Between you and Gordon, was there one who took the forefront in deciding what should be worn on stage? No, in the case of the stage suits, we’d go into Dougie Millings, and play with details. Lots of extra buttons, or double buttons, or extra buttons at the cuffs, or cuffs that folded back. Then the whole velvet thing, where you put the velvet on the collar, but then on the cuffs as well. The pockets were velvet. You’d sit there thinking up fancy details that Doug was very good at doing, just trying to make them as decorated as you could. Were there any bands on the road that influenced your style? I loved The Drifters and The Shirelles. Their whole choreography on stage was amazing. We never tried to copy them in any way, but I was certainly impressed by it.

Which designers were influencing the music scene at that time? There was Biba, but I didn’t know Barbara Hulanicki until later. Mary Quant. Suddenly these people were big stars! And they weren’t just big names like Dior, a sort of god-like status. They were on the ground, same as we were. You would actually get to meet them. Of course Twiggy was at the height of all that. Whatever she wore immediately became cool, and she’s still going strong. Actually, Twiggy was then and still is one of my best friends.

Photo: Jane Asher and Paul McCartney Now, about that famous flat in London you shared with Paul McCartney, as he dated your sister Jane… It was a house actually. It would have been tricky if it were a flat, as there were a lot of us, in the sense that it was my parents, my youngest sister, and Jane and Paul [McCartney] and me. We had a house on Woodpall Street. Paul and I had the top floor. Was there any clothes sharing going on in that house? No. I don’t think so. I don’t remember Paul or I ever borrowing anything from each other. I think men don’t do that as much. Women just seem to do that more. Though cross-sex sharing was already afoot, with the androgyny of Astrid Kirchherr and Stuart Sutcliffe. Boys and girls were sharing clothes. Especially in stores like Granny takes a Trip, which was the cool shop at the time. There were clothes that weren’t specifically designated boys or girls, anybody could wear them. And certainly some of the really skinny guys would get away with wearing girls’ jackets. Marc Bolan would or Bowie would, and make them look really cool. I don’t think I ever really did.

Tell me about your involvement Apple Boutique that the Beatles started in 1967. I didn’t have much to do with that, I was busy running the record company. It was all these people, [Dutch designers] Simon [Postuma] and Marijke [Koeger], who were sort of in charge of it. There were no clothes there I particularly fell in love with. Different divisions of Apple that stayed a bit separate. I think that was one of the problems at the end that it was venturing into all these areas that they weren’t personally expert in. So some of it did go downhill. And I missed the day that they closed it and gave all the clothes away. People were grabbing stuff feverishly. After mod faded away, where was the hippie place to shop? Pete Townsend used to have a couple of women who lived in his basement who made really cool shirts that we all used to go to. He married one of them, I think. But they would make very exotic shirts out of flowery material. And they would make them any way you wanted them, frilly cuffs and all the extras.

Who are your favorite designers to wear now? Etro. I could spend a million dollars in Etro easily. Every time they send the catalog there’s about half the things in there that I like. I wear quite flashy, or whatever you call it, stuff. I like this shirt, it’s rather Etro-ish but it’s by Robert Graham. As a producer, have you guided your artists to dress any differently, or better I don’t think as a manager I’ve ever played a role in an artist’s fashion sense. James [Taylor] very much had his own look. Though he dresses very well, you never think of him as a fashion plate in that sense. He doesn’t go for the avant gard. Though he does like Issey Miyake, but that’s not through any influence of mine. And the same with Linda Rondstadt. She always looked fabulous, but those were her choices, not mine. What's the most fashion forward thing you're seeing today? A lot of the black stuff that I wouldn’t necessarily wear, some of it’s unbelievably cool. Some of the super exaggerated stuff I’d certainly look ridiculous in it. I mean, as it is some of the white kids who wear it tend to look a bit ridiculous. Somehow, African Americans manage to carry it off like it was meant, and on white kids it looks like dressing up. Certainly, black fashion now is ahead of the game.

The much anticipated Barbara Hulanicki for TopShop collection is almost in stores, and we have a first look at a few of the pieces. I love that we can see the original illustration and how it translated into an actual garment and the prints are so great.

LINKAGE: stylelines

Why Topshop?
Barbara Hulanicki: Because they asked!

As simple as that? Were you ever tempted to launch on your own?
Barbara Hulanicki: Yes! I hate production! I know too much about it and it’s a nightmare. It’s really much more fun this way. It’s just designing and they (Topshop) do all the work.

How did the collaboration work?
Barbara Hulanicki: I first met Charlotte Henson from Topshop because I had an illustration exhibition and she asked whether I’d like to collaborate. I just sent her a ton of drawings that they sifted through. They worked very much to see what was missing at Topshop, where there was a gap and looked at the things that were selling. So they worked from a really practical point of view.

Did you reference Biba in any way?
Barbara Hulanicki: Actually I was asked not to do anything that looked like Biba. I was like “Ok!” but I think I picked quite Biba-looking things in the end. There was a lot of Biba publicity at the time you see.

What do you think of the current state of Biba (having changed designers twice)
Barbara Hulanicki: It’s resting at the moment isn’t it? Somebody else will think they can recarnate it I suppose. They do every two or three years. Some business man comes along and thinks “Biba – a couture house!” but they get it all wrong.

Do you think the Biba legacy lives on in our shopping culture?
Barbara Hulanicki: Really, we came up at the time when there was nothing as far as (high street) fashion. We were the first mass producing company that did mass at really good prices. Prices for women that had jobs, lived in bedsits and had left home. There’s a very strong legacy that lives on at Topshop actually.

When we say mass production we automatically think of Primark.
Barbara Hulanicki: Yes, that’s mass mass. Some of it is incredible! Great shoes!

What pieces do you think will fly off the rails?
Barbara Hulanicki: Everyone seems to be going for the shoulder pads. When we started, shoulder pads were a bit off-centre and they were a bit frightened and now everyone’s straight for the shoulder pads.

Barbara Hulanicki for Topshop on sale in stores nationwide and online on Tuesday 28th April.

LINKAGE: Dazed Digital