Every New Year's Eve brings with it small rituals. Some loud, like toasts. Others quiet, like wearing red underwear. An almost invisible gesture, yet charged with meaning.
Red has always been the color of energy and desire. In ancient times, it represented the flow of life, the strength that protects, and the passion that ignites. Wearing it at the end of the year was a way to wish for prosperity and vitality , as if a single color were enough to guide fate in the right direction.
"Colors speak before words."
Why underwear?
Because underwear is personal, intimate in the truest sense of the word. It's not shown: it's chosen. It's a decision that concerns the wearer, not the viewer. And this is where the most interesting side of tradition comes into play.
Wearing red underwear on New Year's Eve isn't blind superstition, but a small act of playfulness : with fate, with oneself, with the expectations of the new year. A way of saying I believe in it , even if just for one night.
Better if it's new, because the coming year doesn't like things we've already experienced. Even better if it's carefully chosen, because desire works best when it's conscious.
"Luck is a matter of attitude."
Between tradition and irony
There's also a light side to all this. Red underwear has become a shared code, a collective wink. Everyone knows it, few admit it, almost no one actually gives it up. Because, after all, it costs nothing to try.
And then there's the pleasure of the game: knowing that beneath an elegant dress or informal look lies a secret detail, chosen just for you.
A wish that starts from the skin
Perhaps the real reason this tradition endures is simple: it reminds us that the new year doesn't just begin with good intentions, but with intentions . And red underwear is one of those silent intentions, which can't be explained but are felt.
"Not everything is controlled. Some things are chosen."
So yes, this year we'll play again. With discretion, with style, with a smile.
Because on New Year's Eve, sometimes, a small detail is enough to make you feel one step ahead.
