“I DON’T think my husband would be too amused if I replenished his underwear drawer with brightly coloured briefs,” I told a colleague.

I’d just learned how British men are trying to lift their moods to beat the credit crunch blues by swapping blue and black underwear for brightly coloured Y-fronts and boxer shorts.

“Doesn’t he buy his own?” he winced. “I’d never want my wife to buy mine.”

I was surprised by this comment, having always assumed that most women bought their partner’s underwear. But a quick poll among my friends put me in the minority – it appears that today’s males buy their own.

My belief that women always buy men’s smalls stems from my parents. I don’t think my dad has ever bought his own Y-fronts. It would take nothing short of a miracle for him to negotiate the M&S underwear department, find the right size in the right colour (always white, credit crunch or not) and material, and emerge with the right product.

I think that in my parents’ generation, underwear was still a bit of a taboo subject, and men were grateful to have their wives buy for them.

Twenty-first century man is a different creature entirely. He buys moisturiser, toner and a wealth of male grooming products without a hint of embarrassment. So, of course, he will be perfectly comfortable buying his own underwear. And because underwear is now part of a person’s overall fashion statement, he will want to choose his own style and colour.

The three most popular shades from the past six months sales at Jockey Underwear are baby pink (up 62 per cent), orange (48) and green (35).

I’m tempted to buy some baby pink boxers for my husband. He doesn’t like change and I know I’m safe with blue or black, but life is for living, and you need new experiences to get the most out of it. He may find that wearing pink undies puts a spring in his step.

Or I could go one step further and, when his present collection wears out, refuse to buy new ones. That would give him a whole new retail experience.

Only I firmly believe he would chicken out and adopt a make do and mend mentality, sewing them up, or using iron-on patches (where can you find those now Woolworths is gone?) And if I refuse to buy his underwear, I will have to go the whole hog and make a stand against buying the rest of his wardrobe: shirts, T-shirts, trousers, socks, shoes. I buy the lot, going so far as to sourcing extra long Chinos from the far reaches of the UK. I wonder how he’ll look in baby pink.