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While many New Yorkers are thinking about their New Year’s resolutions by creating a vision board or writing down a list of goals for themselves, Hell’s Kitchen resident McKenna Rine is rummaging through her underwear drawer to find the perfect pair to ring in 2026.
And not for the dirty reason you might be thinking (or planning).
Rine told The Post that figuring out the shade of skivvies she’s going to wear on NYE has become her end-of-year good-luck ritual — and this year, she’s chosen green.
“Choosing to wear green underwear to manifest a year of health and wealth was an easy pick for me,” said the model, who’s also a content creator and party planner.
“Having done red in the past for romance, yellow for fiscal fortune, and black for power, the color of my underwear is sort of my catalyst for having a great year.”
She’s not the only believer in this cheeky tradition, either. Many women on social media are also hunting down panties in ultra-specific shades to “manifest” their dream 2026, with some even phoning psychics, astrologers and fashion psychologists to help pick the perfect pair.
Rine, 26, swears the superstition works.
“Five years ago, I wore red underwear for New Year’s and then met the love of my life,” she said.
Rine — who’s been following the wacky tradition for almost a decade — said the ritual makes the holiday more meaningful. “The traditions are what make me enjoy the changing of the calendar more than the prosecco toasts.”
This year, her color of choice isn’t just about money — it’s also about slowing down. After years of career wins and personal milestones, she’s conjuring “wealth” in a broader sense: health, stability and peace.
While some might see the trend as just a fun, flirty or even silly superstition, there is actually some science behind it, according to experts.
“The clothes we wear send signals to our own brain long before they do to anyone else,” Forest Hills-based neuropsychologist Dr. Sanam Hafeez told The Post, adding that underwear feels especially meaningful because of its private, intimate nature.
“The colors themselves aren’t magic,” she said — but the ritual can prime confidence, motivation and intention for the year ahead.
New York City–based author and astrologer Lisa Stardust is one of those adamant believers.
She told The Post that she’ll be manifesting self-love in the year ahead by wearing pink undies to watch the ball drop.
“Pink is a color associated with the heart chakra … Beyond that, pink is a calming force,” said Stardust, adding that the hue symbolizes serenity, grounding and emotional gentleness — something she hopes to bring into the new year.
She also broke down the meaning behind some of the most popular NYE panty picks — a cosmic cheat sheet for anyone still deciding what to slip into before the clock strikes midnight.
“Red dictates passion, power and desire,” Stardust told The Post. “Yellow shows positivity and joy … Green represents abundance and prosperity … Black brings protection and healing … Blue is great to wear if you want to harness communication, clarity and intuition.”
Panty colors to avoid? Brown or beige because they “can inhibit growth because it’s restrictive,” Stardust declared, adding that oh-so-bland gray can add “indecision and uncertainty.”
“If you choose to wear these colors, it’s advisable to incorporate another one into your wardrobe,” she said. “A dash of color like red can neutralize the energy if you’re wearing these [underwear] colors.”
Neuropsychologist Hafeez even calls the down-under color pops “enclothed cognition”: the idea that the symbolism of what we wear — plus how it feels on our bodies — shapes how we think, act and even carry ourselves.
In other words, your lucky lingerie may be doing more than just looking cute — and it isn’t all new-age nonsense.
Hafeez explained to The Post that colors have long symbolized protection, fertility, luck and prosperity across Latin America, the Mediterranean and parts of Asia.
For further convincing of this trend, NYC-based fashion psychologist and stylist Sarah Seung-McFarland notes that our reaction to color blends biology, culture and personal experience.
“When someone chooses a color with a specific goal in mind, they’re activating all of those layers at once,” she told The Post, noting that it can subtly influence how people feel and how they move through the new year.
Therapist and identity expert Cynthia Flores added that the ritual’s emotional pull is part of the appeal.
“Clothing is never just clothing. It carries meaning, memory and intention,” she told The Post, concurring that underwear feels especially powerful because it’s private.
It’s a quiet intention you carry into January, not something you’re “performing for anyone else.”
