l.a. confidential

Sometimes it takes an outsider to accurately sum up a town. Lanvin creative director Alber Elbaz, who arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday for a "Meet the Designer" event at Barneys and leaves later today following the completion of an ad campaign being shot by Steven Meisel, shared a few perceptive observations about the city with us.

"I love it here, and not just because of the weather. It's the last place on earth where one can find so many characters talking to themselves on the streets and nobody even bothers to look at [them]."

"When I come here I never go to restaurants. I'm always at people's homes or apartments having dinner. It's a very family-oriented place."

"Los Angeles is the center of sensitivity. That's why there are so many actresses who live here, because they are sensitive people."

"I have a lot of friends here, and sometimes I call them and sometimes I don't. This time I won't, and they will read about me being here and it will be a drama, because they are all drama queens. But aren't we all?"

"Los Angeles is one of the few places where I don't go to galleries or to cathedrals. Instead, I try to sniff out the spirit of the city. That's right, I sniff out a city because I don't sniff anything else. I never have and I never will."

— Linlee Allen

Photo: Linlee Allen