Lauren Conrad strikes a pose on the red carpet at Crobar.

Delays, refusals, and artful evasions: it’s pretty much the theme of this past weekend’s celebrity beat. Fortunately, a true LGS takes it all in stride—and still manages to turn up a few celebrity morsels. On Friday night, I chatted up Nick Rhodes and John Taylor of the seminal eighties new-wave band Duran Duran before the group’s concert at the Chicago Theatre. I asked the guys to dedicate “Last Man Standing” off their latest album, Red Carpet Massacre, to Last Girl Standing—but the song wasn’t in their scheduled set list, so no dice. (Instead, they played a mix of old and new, including the pop hits “Rio” and “Reflex.” Simon Le Bon’s still got his signature onstage slither, and the fans still go nuts for it.)

Undeterred, I headed straight to Dreams for Kids’ Holiday of Hope fundraiser at Crobar to catch up with Lauren Conrad from MTV’s The Hills. Conrad was about 45 minutes late for her 11 p.m. red-carpet trot, but when she showed, she did so in style, arriving in a white stretch limo and greeting the bevy of Marines gathered out front to collect children’s gifts for the charity. Conrad is every bit as tiny and adorable in person as she is on TV (I guess that’s what being 21 looks like). Although the Hollywood party girl skipped the chance to promote her own California-chic clothing line, the Lauren Conrad Collection, in favor of a slinky black-velvet number by Michelle Mason, her clothes will be available next year at E Street Denim in Highland Park.

Once inside the club, Conrad submitted to a few questions from us media types—but none, we were warned ahead of time by her publicist, that would make her uncomfortable. That meant no queries about her former flame and fellow Hills star Brody Jenner, who was scheduled to appear at Enclave the following night. “I’m leaving first thing in the morning,” Conrad said pointedly when asked about her plans while in town. Since she’s been filming another season of The Hills in Paris (eight episodes, she told me), I asked what she liked most about the city of lights, hoping to get the scoop on any Parisian love interests. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I can’t talk about it. We’re still filming.” Hey, at least, she was nice about it.

Conrad, who was only slated to stay at Crobar until 1:30 a.m., ended up hanging out in the main room and the upstairs VIP suite until 3:15 a.m., drinking Level Vodka and Veuve Clicquot. Organizers say about 1,000 toys were collected for charity during the course of the evening.

They may not be an item any longer, but Conrad shares something in common with her ex: a lack of punctuality. Brody Jenner arrived hours late Saturday at Enclave for a scheduled model search for his new clothing and jewelry line, Archangel—and the delay had nothing to do with the night’s snow storm. The MTV star and son of Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner was slowed on his way into town by getting into a scuffle onboard his original flight (still no word on what that was about) and being escorted off the plane. “I guess I won’t be flying American again,” Jenner told the crowd when he arrived at Enclave after 2 a.m. The model search was canned, but Jenner’s escapade didn’t keep him from gripping and grinning with the mob of female fans who had stuck around.

If you missed The Hills drama last weekend, you have another chance to see reality, close up: Hills stars Whitney Port and Audrina Patridge host Poparazzi Friday on December 28th at Crobar.

Photography: (Conrad and Duran Duran) Courtesy of Sarah Preston; (Jenner) Matt Reeves