Sexy red thingies

Yesterday I even saw it in my part of town, conservative Üsküdar: ultra sexy lingerie in bright red. Bras, panties, garters, all tiny and made of (often fake) lace and with small woolen balls on it here and there. I was with a Turkish friend and asked her in amazement: are these things really sold, or just meant to draw attention? Is it a new hype, that I see these things everywhere nowadays?

Her answer amazed me even more, and I had to stop myself from shouting out loud: ‘Really?’ Her answer: ‘It’s only these days of the year, women wear it for their guy around the turn of the year.’ ‘Really?’, I asked with big eyes and with my voice down. ‘Even the covered Üsküdar women, they wear these thingies under their baggy clothes on the last or first day of the year?’ Well, we can’t prove it, but yes, it seems so. Not all of them of course, but even so. My friend immediately added that she of course didn’t follow the tradition. I won’t either. Red is just not my colour.