fashion advisers to help with your every whim and query

Net-a-porter.com, with its internationally renowned roster of designers and sleek black packaging, has long been the online refuge of the fashion fan, be they privileged or profligate. Launched in 2000, the site offers its wares via a chic internet magazine format, and its signature of ultra-high quality mixed with everyday practicality hasled to astronomic success, both for the company and for its founder, Natalie Massenet.

The brand has had year-on-year profits since its inception and was last year buoyed further by a buy-out from luxury-goods group, Richemont. Now comes Mr Porter, a version of the site for sartorially-minded menfolk, which launches this week.

"Our approach is style, not fashion," explains buying director Toby Bateman. "It should appeal as much to the fashion-conscious man about town as to the more mature guy who wants to look good, but doesn't care about the latest trends."

That's the logic behind the "Essentials" section of the site, which highlights classic wearability to collate a capsule of clothing for the modern gent. "Each season we'll be recommending the 30 'essentials' that every man should own," adds Bateman, "such as a Burberry trench coat, James Perse lightweight T-shirts and John Lobb loafers."

And the site is unique in its specificity – many of the other popular men's e-tailers are satellites to their womenswear counterparts, whereas Mr Porter is a stand-alone venue for both the savvy and the not-so-savvy shopper. Men buy quickly and they buy in patterns; therefore, pieces on Mr Porter are easy to find, easy to re-order and fall beyond the sort of impulse or statement buys that are often so tempting to female surfers.

It's easy to forget that, for some, shopping is less a leisure activity than a necessity, and the simple and easily navigated professionalism of Mr Porter will no doubt appeal to even the most pragmatic of shopaholics.

"It has a very clean, masculine aesthetic," says Bateman. "It has the undertones of a broadsheet newspaper with the attention to detail of a magazine, and makes even those men who are not comfortable with shopping feel completely at ease with how it looks, works and delivers."

This is a very Net-a-Porter sort of vision – the womenswear site currently has photoshoots and featured designers, styling tips and a team of fashion advisers to help with your every whim and query. Likewise, Mr Porter promises "a wealth of information, tips, facts, advice and information".

What's more, the same efficiency associated with Net-a-Porter will also reign on the menswear site – which offers same-day delivery in London and Manhattan, and can deliver within 48 hours to any other global destination, all orders delicately wrapped up in little white boxes, a chic inversion of the womenswear packaging.

It might only be one small step for men, but it's a revolution in their shopping habits. Forget preening dandies and promenading fops, the new man-about-town won't even have to leave his desk.