Paul Targett hasn't changed his underwear in 28 years. But he might, someday, especially since a lot of other people are. A senior computer programmer at Purdue University, Targett has worn briefs all his life. It hasn't been a conscious decision of briefs over boxers. Just a comfortable habit, he says. But Targett is part of a growing segment of the population giving their shorts a second thought at the behest of image, comfort and even maturity.

If it sounds like just another meeting of Men's Issues 101, the subject matter may be of more fundamental significance. Many people treat the switch from boxers to briefs as an unspoken rite of passage along the lines of getting your own razor, or of English schoolboys who trade in short pants for trousers. For others, the renewed popularity of boxers is also part of a general consciousness-raising about fashion and comfort that encompasses women's undergarments, too. Fueling this consciousness-raising: provocative, alluring ads from such vanguards of haute couture - and big business - as Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. Klein recently sold his underwear business for a reported $50 million. The irreverent Joe Boxer, a San Francisco underwear company, brings in $32 million a year.

Briefs are what your parents would give you, because you need clean underwear. Boxers are what your significant other gives you as a gesture of affection and intimacy. Targett remembers, "I had a friend who started wearing boxers because his girlfriend wanted him to. Then he started liking it, because they were silk." After considering the matter for a moment, Targett decides he might cave in to that kind of subtle fashion coercion. "I might change if someone gave me some silk boxers. If they bought them as a gift, I wouldn't want to be rude."

A recent People magazine article tapped into the trend by asking a variety of stars the intrusive personal question of what kind of underwear they preferred. Among the boxer-wearers: Alec Baldwin, "90210"'s Jason Priestley, Tom Arnold, Jonathan Winters, Penn Jillett of Penn and Teller and Sirajul Islam, one of the two Bangladeshi shop owners whom David Letterman has been sending around the country. Islam is quoted as saying, "Inside my pants, I usually like the boxer shorts ... I don't like too much tight - it's a problem for work and breathing and also digestion."

In an MTV special, President Bill Clinton was asked the same question. He said he wore both, but usually briefs. There are boxer-briefs, for really indecisive people, but that's almost an abdication of choice. With all the talk in the media about "boxer men" and "brief men," is there really any significance to preferring one or the other? "We can only speculate," says Richard Feinberg, a professor of consumer sciences and retailing at Purdue University. Feinberg had set out to find out the answer to more general questions: What do our clothes say about us? Do they represent what we want to be or what we are? After doing a study that involved having people dress in outfits they felt best represented them, the answer Feinberg came up with was, "Clothes represent something you want to be. And people can really read those messages." But Feinberg says that extending his conclusions to the question of boxers or briefs is a dicey endeavor. The kind of underwear a person chooses may not yield much in the way of solid personality clues. "It may not be message-oriented," he says, "because it's not visible."

Not always, at least. "Now we know that people are wearing them more on the outside, rather than just as underwear," explains Kitty Kinehan, a spokeswoman for Fruit of the Loom. "Now the younger generation, the 20s and the teen-agers, are wearing them, and the girls are wearing them around the house." Older men have always bought boxers, Kinehan says. But because of the high demand, her company - which also makes BVD and Munsingwear underwear - now makes boxers for younger men, in a variety of slimmer cuts. For the record, Kinehan says she prefers her boyfriend in boxers. "I think they're sexy."

"All I can say is, there's loose and easy, and there's uptight and out of sight. And boxer shorts represent the former," says Woody Hochswender, senior editor in charge of fashion at Esquire and editor of the all-fashion Esquire Gentleman. "Let's face it: there's very little to briefs. This whole idea that briefs are attractive is all just an advertising thing," he says. "The bodies in them are good-looking. The briefs are the most nondescript garment you can buy. Think of Fruit of the Loom and Hanes. The Calvin Klein stuff is basically the same thing" Hochswender also acknowledges that "boxers are more forgiving" for men whose physiques are less than Marky-Markish. But boxer shorts have a little bit of style," he adds. "And women are very fond of them, too. It's a sign of maturity."<<