Thom Browne works a kind of alchemy with his fashion shows: he makes the familiar (buttoned-up business men in gray suits) deeply, deeply strange (those suits stop at the ankles). The same philosophy extends to the way he treats grooming: Thom Browne hair is super functional, and also pretty weird. At his “The Office Man” presentation at New York Fashion Week on Tuesday—in short: thirty-odd suited-up dudes standing on guard in a mirrored cube—models showed off a lacquered-down side-part, an exaggerated take on the standard business ‘do. Stylist Jimmy Paul ran the hair operation for Bumble and bumble, and his advice for the look was simple: “It’s the idea of the Saturday Evening Post,” Paul explained to a group of reporters, “the classic American man. Iconic, almost like the Olympics.” So: how can you look like a 1950s Olympian-slash-company-man? “We’re using a lot of gel,” Paul said. Start with damp hair, comb in a deep side part, and go crazy slicking everything back with all that gel—it’ll work for guys with anything but really short hair. Paul topped it off with a blow dryer to lock it in—“With boys,” he explained, “if you leave them with their hair wet, they might run their fingers through it, or go smoke and itch their heads.” Because in Thom Browne’s world, guys don’t scratch their heads.

Hairstylist Jimmy Paul locks in the side-part with a blowdryer.

With enough gel, even this guy's wavy mane can hit the Browne standard.

The all-important comb: no self-respecting hairstylist leaves home without it.

This model's super-short hair doesn't lend itself to the part—so a super-clean taper will do.

Sam Schube is the GQ Sports director. He began working at GQ in 2014 as an editorial assistant, and in the years since has assigned and edited features and profiles, written stories about subjects ranging from Johnny Knoxville to professional golf's existential crisis, and worked on all manner of magazine... Read moreGQ Sports DirectorXInstagramRelated Stories for GQThom BrowneHair