STORIES / ADDICTED / UNDERWEAR
From brief to jockstrap, the hour before a night in Munich
There is an hour before a night out that belongs only to you. You shower, put on some music, maybe pour a glass of wine, and outside the city lights come on while nothing has been decided yet. ADDICTED Munich 2026 is about that hour, and about the first thing you put on.
BEFORE THE NIGHT
Underwear is what the fewest people will see, and yet it is the first decision of the evening. Nobody else knows what you have on, but you know it all night. In the right piece you feel a little more at ease, from the bar to the walk home at dawn.
Quiet inside, the city outside
It might be a hotel room or your own flat. Outside, Munich is getting ready for the evening. The light fades over the Isar, the tables around Gärtnerplatz fill up and the bars along Müllerstraße open their doors. Inside, everything is still slow, the music is low and there is time to think about what the night might bring.
This is when you decide what goes on first, and that choice says more about the night than the shirt does. It is the part of getting dressed that nobody watches, which is exactly why it matters.
Munich’s gay scene has had its centre in the Glockenbachviertel for decades, with Müllerstraße running through the middle of it. Freddie Mercury spent most of his time in the city between 1979 and 1985 and was a familiar face in its bars, the Deutsche Eiche among them. In June 2026 the CSD PolitParade marched right down Müllerstraße. A night out here has a history, and it still starts at home.
The same body, a different night
The same body moves differently in different underwear. A higher-cut leg, a waistband that sits higher or lower, a more pronounced front, and suddenly you carry yourself another way.
Some men wear the same cut all year, others change it from night to night. Both are fine. What matters is that the piece suits your mood that evening, even if nobody but you knows it.
Good underwear proves itself not in front of the mirror but eight hours later. That is when you find out where a seam rubs, where a waistband slips, and which piece you forgot you were wearing all night.
The waistband above the jeans
Many people recognise ADDICTED by its waistband. At the bar, when you raise a hand to order, it peeks out above your jeans, and those who know, know. The band also sets the proportions. A wide, contrasting one draws a clear line across the hips, while a narrower one lets the body read as one long shape.
A quiet colour often gets its character from the band, the way a light brief does from a dark one. Elsewhere the band becomes part of the whole colour scheme. Neither is better. They simply divide the same surface in different ways.
A good waistband lies flat, does not cut in and stays put on the dance floor. Plenty of men reach for a size smaller in the hope of a cleaner line, but a band that is too tight undoes the very proportions they were after.
Mesh, for when the night gets longer
Mesh is never an accident. Yellow mesh is light and playful, almost a daytime thing, and with a matching sleeveless top it feels more like a sunny weekend than a long night.
Black and gold is darker and glossier, and it catches the light with every small movement. That is the evening side, bolder and more self-assured.
With mesh, the light always matters. How much it reveals depends on the lighting and on the skin underneath, and what seems discreet in the half-light of a hotel room looks quite different under club lights. Anyone who has worn mesh knows this, and most of them like it for exactly that reason.
Five pieces, five kinds of night
Most underwear drawers hold more than one mood. Five pieces cover almost every night out.
- A white brief, the safe bet you always come back to
- A red one, for nights that are decided before they start
- Beige with a black waistband, almost invisible until it isn’t
- Mesh, for when nobody is going home early
- A jockstrap, for those who know exactly why
Some ADDICTED pieces come with the brand’s own constructions. Push Up supports from the inside, Pack Up shapes with a removable pad and Molded gives a smooth front without a centre seam, so the same cut can feel three different ways.
What a jockstrap means
The jockstrap is older than most people think. In 1874, C. F. Bennett of the Chicago sporting goods company Sharp & Smith designed it for Boston’s bicycle riders, who rode over the city’s cobblestones. For decades it was pure sportswear, and from the 1950s onwards it also became part of gay culture.
Today a jockstrap means a waistband, a supportive pouch and two straps that leave the back bare. For many men it is the underwear for a date, a club or a party, and a quiet statement of confidence. The jockstrap guide in the shop covers the cut and the sizing, and the ADDICTED jockstraps are right next door.
The rest is down to the night, and to whoever you walk home with.
What nobody sees, you feel the most
Underwear is the most personal decision of the evening. A well-chosen piece does not ask for attention. It stays where it belongs and lets the night be about you.
