In a classic example of "don't get your hopes up," tourists visiting LA for the first time are frequently disappointed with what they discover, which is that LA rarely lives up to their ridiculously high expectations. Hollywood is just Times Square + movies + a trash heap, and our "tourist" activities leave much to be desired. However, one of the weirdest expectations tourists have of LA is that they think it'll be just like New York, but on a beautiful beach. They're surprised by the vastness of our sprawl, and how so little of LA looks like a "city" in the most obvious sense of the word. The truth is that our Downtown is many, many miles from the beach, creating completely unique, fractionalized neighborhoods that confuse tourists but are crucial to the complex, beautiful mosaic that makes up this city. I understand their disappointment, though, which is why I thought I'd bring a little seaside inspiration to the streets of Downtown, wearing an ocean-inspired wrap dress against the bustling backdrop of DTLA. To me, this encapsulates the many contrasts of Los Angeles; the natural and the manmade, the color and the bleakness, the shining and the dull. We're a city of endless contradictions, but I wouldn't have it any other way.