Rod Stewart tells men to dress up

London - His dress sense is not to everyone’s taste, but even Rod Stewart’s detractors would concede that he makes an effort when he is out and about with wife Penny Lancaster.

Certainly, he considers himself a dapper dresser and is unimpressed with men who can’t be bothered to smarten up for a night out.

Stewart, 68, said: ‘I hate the way men dress today – at the theatre it’s all anoraks and shorts. You go to dinner and see beautifully dressed women with men like tramps wearing trainers, jeans and T-shirts.

‘If I was a woman I’d say, “Are you taking me out looking like that, toerag?” You can even get into most restaurants without wearing trousers. I used to love dressing for dinner.’

For his interview with Radio Times, Stewart arrived in a light-brown suede jacket, sky-blue shirt, tie and black trousers. He joked about his hair: ‘The Queen and I have one thing in common – the same hairstyle for 45 years.’

Asked why he hadn’t been knighted like other musicians of his generation such as Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney and Tom Jones, and if it was to do with his perceived Hollywood lifestyle, Stewart replied: ‘Well, Mick doesn’t pay taxes here, and Tom lives in America. If my time comes, it will. And if it doesn’t, I’m not bothered.’

A BBC1 Imagine documentary about his career, Can’t Stop Me Now, is to be screened on July 9. - Daily Mail