Rare portraits of Sixties rock stars showing how pop influenced the style of a decade will go on show this autumn.

The National Portrait Gallery is bringing together classic images of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Who in an exhibition chronicling the changing look of the period.

Curator Terence Pepper said a simple examination of how The Beatles went from clean-cut youths in suits to long-haired hippies illustrated how the music industry became a decisive influence on fashion.

Singers including Cilla Black and Lulu promoted British fashion designers such as Caroline Charles by wearing their clothes.

Mr Pepper said he was also keen to profile the young photographers who were recording the new faces of the music industry. As the decade went on, figures like Fiona Adams and Philip Townsend took over from established photographers like Cecil Beaton and Norman Parkinson. Don McCullin, now best known as a war photographer, is represented with early fashion pictures.

The exhibition will include more than 100 images never seen before in a display of 150 photographs. Separate display cases will show magazine covers, record sleeves and other ephemera of the time.

It will include many early portraits of Cliff Richard, Billy Fury, Marianne Faithfull, Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie.

Beatles to Bowie: The 60s Exposed, runs from 15 October to 24 January, with £11 admission charge.