Paul Smith | Neal Street | Tony Blair | Prime Minister

AMERICAN WAY: On TV you're known for wearing jeans with your chef's apron. Any special places to shop for cool pants?
OLIVER: Near Neal Street in Covent Gar­dens is where you've got Diesel, Levi's, and Duffer of St. George. The Duffer of St. George is the really cool one. But I also like the vintage Levi's, pre-1974. That's when they still used the old mechanical looms, before the accountants got too involved. The old machines gave you a nice, thick, beautiful denim that was hand-woven. But to buy an original pair of pre-1971 Levi's runs $600. I've never bought them, but they are quite cool to look at.

AMERICAN WAY: You've cooked twice for Tony Blair. I assume that even the greatest pair of Duffer of St. Georges won't cut it when you're meeting with a prime minister. So where do you go when the attire is a bit dressier?
OLIVER: Paul Smith is the man. I go to Westbourne House in Notting Hill, which is Paul Smith's flagship store in the U.K. and the place where they have a bespoke unit. I go to see John or Chris there, though Paul Smith himself sometimes gets involved in choosing fabrics. Each suit they've made for me fits like a glove. And the tailor does a little tracing of your body, so you don't always need to be there. I once phoned up from L.A. and told them that I needed a white suit in 10 days. No problem. When I got my MBE [it stands for Member of the Order of the British Empire, but, as Oliver says, "it doesn't get you out of parking tickets or anything"] from the Queen, I got Paul Smith to make me a really nice brown, slightly textured suit. It had a high, single-button jacket. It was a real teddy-boy look.

AMERICAN WAY: Now that we've got high and low fashion out of the way, let's talk about hair. Where do you get yours cut, and how do you get it to swoop up like that?