Men’s Vogue was launched across the country on Tuesday, a very sophisticated younger brother of Conde Nast’s hugely profitable Vogue. The magazine, which costs $4.95 for newsstand buyers, will be sent free to 200,000 readers gleaned from Conde Nast’s database, as well as select customers from some high-end men’s stores.

The demographic being sought are men over 35 with incomes of more than $100,000. These men are presumably ignored by such magazines as the service-oriented Men’s Health or beer-and-babes Maxim and FHM (the latter of which has an article this month on a day in the life of Tera Patrick, one of the world’s top porn stars – accompanied, of course, by photos).

In spirit, Men’s Vogue is somewhat closer to the men’s magazines of an earlier era.

But this still isn’t your father’s Esquire. Upscale men’s magazines at one time – especially the ones Men’s Vogue seems to be trying to imitate – had Hemingway, Steinbeck, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald as freelancers. Here, all the pieces are smoothly written, but there are no superstar authors. All in all, the whole publication seems to be trying to prove a cynical cliche about men – that those who have the most toys win.

There are some amazing toys written about in the debut issue, including an $18,000 desk, a $170,000 Bentley, and an amazing $1.5 million dollar watch! So far, advertisers have responded in kind. The nearly 300-page magazine is packed with ads for $31,850 platinum cell phones and $11,500 sapphire cuff links. The magazine will be a quarterly in 2006.

With Anna Wintour, Vogue’s editor, as editorial director, and her protege, Jay Fielden, as editor, the magazine looks a lot like its older sister in style. It combines a variety of elegant fashion spreads – with titles like “Soles of Discretion” featuring Emenaglido Zegna’s lace-up dress shoes ($1,495) – with offbeat articles such as one on crickets – yes, chirping and, on occasion, fighting crickets. The gladiator crickets were even photographed by Vogue master lensman Irving Penn.

There is also an article, almost as unusual, on a $3,500 meat-slicer, by Vogue food writer Jeffrey Steingarten. And another on searching for Jarawa tribesmen on the Andaman Islands.

George Clooney, looking dishy, is the cover guy and gives a slightly more revealing than usual interview. He talks about a some recent health problems and comments, “What you learn after you’re 40 is – it’s just about plugging up the holes.” He also notes, “I know that there’s only a very short window of opportunity before they start going, ‘Well he’s too old now.’ … And with that you lose a lot of clout.” You would not think that is exactly what the desired 35-plus demographic of Men’s Vogue would like to hear.

When the magazine wanders into Vanity Fair territory with a piece on Geneva that seems to paint the place as a Swiss Sin City, it blunders a bit. The piece is provocatively blurbed: “Geneva is a place where dollars and people go to hide. By day, it’s pinstripes and spreadsheets. But at night, anything goes.” It is the first piece in the magazine, and the one that sounds the most interesting. But a friend of mine, a lawyer who lives in Geneva half the year, found the article both out-dated and exaggerated. Yet by being so close to the front of the book, it is the one most likely to be read.

The only relationship advice in the magazine is in a piece by Marina Rust about how to buy jewelry that the women in your life will really want to wear. She suggests – and why am I not surprised? – browsing together at Fred Leighton’s or Barney’s.

Overall, the magazine is really about the look of things. There are two features on artists, the painters Walton Ford and Julian Opie, and pages and pages on architecture and design. A piece on Gianni Angelli’s grandson’s inheritances is about the closet of bespoke suits he was left by his glamorous granddad.

What struck me most, however, was how unsmiling the male models in the ads appear. With their gorgeous high cheekbones, strong, chiseled jaws, and great hair, they look either disinterested or disdainful – as if all the luxury they were trying to sell wasn’t worth smiling about. In fact, the only two guys who are able crack a grin are Ralph Lauren in his series of ads and George Clooney in one photo. Maybe they are the only men who won’t be somewhat intimidated by all these high prices and good taste.

As for passion – yes, there is one kiss. In the Barney’s ad, the guy is kissing his $31,850 platinum cell phone.