Dressed in Red for a Photo Op on the 11th Day on the 11th Hour

DRESSED FOR SUCCESS

The filming started early on Saturday morning for another House Hunter’s International episode and continued through today. The night before, assistant Patty Sadauskas helped chose the right wardrobe for the show.

You might not think that’s important, but remember how the three young American heroes who foiled an alleged terrorist attack were ostracized in the press for not having worn suits to receive the French Legion of Honor not so long ago? That’s an indication of how important someone’s clothing is, particularly in the public’s eye. My daughter, Erica Simone, in her statement about her series  Nue York: Self-Portraits of a Bare Urban Citizen, states: “What we wear acts as a silent language allowing us to portray who we are or want to be, suggesting to the outer world an impression on us—whatever that may be.”

The TV camera has another kind of eye, too. It can’t handle certain kinds of colors or patterns — they can play mean games with the image. In addition, the battery pack for the mic has to be clipped on somewhere, and hidden — so all this plays a role in what we wear for the filming. One must think of everything!

A comment made recently on our House Hunters International Facebook page, about one particular screenshot of me was, “She was wearing this today when I saw her!”

Looks like I was caught wearing the same thing twice. My response: “Oh no! One of my favorite tops!” So, being careful not to wear the same thing from a previous episode is part of the game. And I was told once by a close friend to “lose the horizontal striped shirt, my dear!” I took this seriously! The camera adds weight and so do stripes in the wrong direction.

I thought you might think this inane dialog, but Patty thought you readers might like a little ‘inside’ scoop on what goes on ‘backstage.’ At any rate, I do hope I am never ostracized for wearing the wrong thing, like the young American heroes who thought their khaki pants and polo shirts were just fine.

DRESSED IN RED

Not all that long ago, the city almost turned what is known as “Les Enfants Rouge” into a parking lot. Thank goodness, the residents of the 3rd arrondissement wouldn’t allow them to spoil their 400 year-old covered market.

Created in 1615, it was called the “Petit Marché du Marais.” At that time, the city stopped at the Place de la République and the Tower of the Temple (of the Knights Templar). Business boomed and a market was created by Louis XIII, giving birth to the future “Marché des Enfants Rouges.” This weekend we celebrated its 400 years in existence. Saturday and Sunday the market was awash with balloons, decoration, people and entertainment.

It happens to be the oldest covered market in Paris still in operation and it’s just one block from my humble 17th-century abode. The name comes from the nearby hospice “Les Enfants Rouges,” dating back to 1524 through 1777, created by Marguerite de Navarre for orphans. These children were called the Children of God, but their red cloth clothing, a symbol of Christian charity, gave them the ‘nickname,’ Les Enfants Rouge.

Inspired by the market place, Henri IV considered creating a point from which radiated streets bearing the names of different provinces. This project never came to fruition, but the street names remain: rue de Bretagne, rue Poitou, rue Normandie and my street, rue de Saintonge. The market was sold to the City of Paris in 1912 and was listed as a historic monument in 1982. Five centuries later, this market has become the vibrant heart of the neighborhood life, “the Village Place,” as the local residents call it.

It closed for six years and reopened in November of 2000 with 2000 square meters of space, regaining its original purpose by providing a marketplace for fresh produce, seafood and meat venders, delicatessens, greengrocers, organic products, wine shops, cheese sellers, bakeries, and florists. It’s also now a ‘food court,’ with a variety of prepared foods sold and places at which one can dine.

It’s just one of the many reasons we residents of the 3rd love our ‘little village’ so much.

Marché des Enfants Rouges
39, rue de Bretagne – 75003 Paris
Opening times: Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesday through Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Closed Monday

PARIS PHOTO OP

Thursday the 19th edition of the annual Paris Photo Fair opens at the Grand Palais with over 147 leading galleries from 34 countries, plus 27 publishers. If you love photography like I do, it will the highlight of the year for you. Come to the show then read all about it next week when I report on my findings.

11:11

Wednesday, November 11th is not just Armistice Day. (which coincides with Remembrance Day and Veterans Day commemorated every year to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o’clock in the morning—the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918, Wikipedia.org). It’s also the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar and is special for certain numerologists.

“Numerologists believe that events linked to the time 11:11 appear more often than can be explained by chance or coincidence. This belief is related to the concept of synchronicity. Some authors claim that seeing 11:11 on a clock is an auspicious sign. Others claim that 11:11 signals a spirit presence. The belief that the time 11:11 has mystical powers has been adopted by believers in New Age philosophies. However, skeptics say that Uri Geller’s examples of 11:11 phenomena in world events are examples of post-hoc reasoning and confirmation bias.” (Wikipedia.org)

Do you often see 11:11 on the clock, more often than any other combination of numbers? I do, but not as much as my daughter, who has so many 1111’s in her life that she has MCXI (1111) tattooed on her body and soul.

Next time you see 11:11, make a wish! It just might come true.

A la prochaine…

Adrian Leeds
The Adrian Leeds Group

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P.S. Don’t miss tomorrow’s Parler Paris Après-Midi with New York Times bestselling author, Cara Black! See the details on our Parler Paris Après-Midi page.