When the Pavement Melts and Her Dress Catches the Breeze: MT’s Summers of Nostalgia, Risk, and Newness

Summer in New York doesn’t just arrive; it takes over. It sticks to your skin and lingers on your clothes. For MT, summer has always been more than a season. It’s a measure of growth when her creativity opens up, and the rhythm that frames her personal and digital life begins to pick up.

MT started her online career at just sixteen when she began to carve out space online. She built a following off her sharp fashion advice, striking old-Hollywood blonde hair, and a fashion sense that feels mature, chic, and timeless. She’s built a unique aesthetic and brand for her and the chicks to share. 

Now, entering her twenties, MT speaks about summer like others might talk about love affairs: formative, experimental, and transformative. The scene felt perfectly in character when I logged onto Zoom to speak to her. MT sat in a cozy white hotel room, relaxed and radiant, wearing navy-blue pajamas with white piping. She embodied the balance she’s known for: glamorous but approachable, classic but never stiff. 

If Hot Child in the City is about the freedom, heat, and chaos of youth, MT embodies it fully: part coastal dreamer, part downtown cool, always finding new life in the haze of summer.

For MT, summer is a balancing act between comfort and risk. She tries to return to Montauk each year, a place she’s loved since post-prom weekends at seventeen, but she also welcomes the new. Traveling with her partner — known to her community as Moonchild — she’s been introduced to unfamiliar adventures that push her outside her nostalgia.

ROSIE: Do you think that summer’s a time for you to step out of your comfort zone, or to retreat back to nostalgic places?

MT: Wow, that’s a good question. I feel like definitely a mix of both, right? Summer has always been when I have the biggest waves of followers, my most views. Style-wise, I dress for nostalgia, that New England picture that people like. But traveling? Especially with Moonchild, he’s introduced me to new places, new adventures. So a balance, I guess. I get the familiar comfort, but also the chance to push myself into something new.

ROSIE: And when you’re not in school, do you feel that opens more creative space for you?

MT: Oh, definitely. When I don’t have impending due dates and assignments that I think are stupid and stuff like that, my mind has time to actually play. I can try a new format, make a little extra video here and there, and experiment more. So I guess subconsciously, I'm experimenting and posting more because I have that creative freedom.

If summer gives MT freedom, her mornings give her clarity. Inspiration doesn’t always arrive in grand settings; for her, it’s often in the smallest rituals. 

ROSIE: Do you have a physical or mental space you go to for inspiration?

MT: Honestly, I think it’s when I'm doing absolutely nothing. I know it’s cliché, but I feel like I have beautiful ideas in the shower. And every morning I have this strict routine with green tea — either Moonchild is sleeping or not with me, so I’m just alone at my desk in the morning with green tea, that's where I get my most beautiful creative thoughts. And I try to write down whatever random things I'm seeing or observing on my phone or on post-its. Moonchild will tell you – I cover my vanity mirror with Post-it notes. 

Creativity, for MT, doesn’t live in designated spaces. It appears in the in-between moments, scribbled down before it slips away. There’s something deeply New York about that — inspiration captured on the fly, scrawled against the chaos, scribbles fighting for space on crowded pages.

Living online since her teens means MT has had to draw clear boundaries between public and private. What her audience sees — candid GRWM videos, streams of opinions, snippets of her day — is carefully managed.

ROSIE: How do you balance what you share with your audience versus what you keep private?

MT: I think I’ve always done a great job at giving the illusion that I’m giving my audience a lot of information. Like through my GRWM videos, I talk a lot, sharing my opinions. But if you truly dissect what I've said over the years in those videos, I’m not giving away the nitty-gritty details of my personal life, you know? People feel like they really know me without actually giving personal details of my life. 

Back in late December, MT decided to let the chicks into her life a little more, admitting, “Moonchild and I made this little series of 'MT lore' videos. I shared some personal information — I was in a vulnerable spot, transferring schools, figuring things out. So I decided to give a little more background. But outside of those videos, and even now after them, I don’t really share that much.”

In an era of parasocial intimacy, MT’s ability to curate closeness without complete exposure is almost radical. But it comes with its own questions. Can authenticity exist online at all? Her pragmatism about social media is refreshing. 

ROSIE: Do you think being successful online requires authenticity?

MT: Honestly, no. Most successful creators aren’t fully authentic. They’re performing. To be mega successful, you have to hop on these trends, do these things that you think, do you really wanna do that? Do you really wanna support this brand? Do you really wanna be saying this right now?

She points to Alex Consani as an exception, a creator who seems fully herself. 

MT: Authenticity is rare. I think one example of a mega successful gal who's authentic is Alex Consani. But I think she can have that freedom because she has an actual, tangible career as a model outside of influencing. For these influencers, at least in my interactions, it's hard to reject money; this is your job to promote these brands. But this summer, I rejected a sponsorship with an app, you know, 'cause am I really about to do this? You know, like this is not me. The chicks don't wanna see this.

She also points to fellow influencer Audrey Peters as a role model of hers, admiring her journey on social media. “She's just been successful and independent and outspoken in an elegant way. The career she's built for herself is admirable. And she is my next level, it's like, where I wanna be in two years”. 

Fashion, for MT, is another language — one that shifts with the seasons. In the thick of summer, she becomes what she calls a “skirt lover girl.” 

ROSIE: Fashion-wise, do you have summer staples you always return to?

MT: Skirts. I am a skirt lover girl. I do not wear pants and no shorts for me — unless they’re really long. Brandy Melville used to make these slinky skirts, and that was my introduction to them. 

She shares not buying much Brandy Mievelle anymore, but “when brands make a really simple slip skirt that lies perfectly low, hugging the waist kind of thing,” that's what she has been loving since she was 15. 

This summer, she also leaned into new bold accessories. “I’ve also been into big earrings — not gaudy, but statement studs or drops and clip-ons! I got my first pair this summer. I feel like I can say gaudy because I am Sicilian.” She joked, laughing at herself.

Her style this year also toyed with nostalgia. Lily Pulitzer prints — long dismissed as relics of prep.

ROSIE: You mentioned Lily Pulitzer earlier — has this been a Lily summer?

MT: Totally. Sometimes it's fun to cosplay with the Lily dress. This summer, it was like the Poochie colorful pattern, at least on my explore pages. So the Lily Pulitzer prints slipped right in there. They feel adjacent in that universe, and those little shift dresses just flatter so well.

Music weaves through MT’s life and summer in a way that feels both old and new. 

ROSIE: Does music play a big role in your life and inspiration?

MT: Definitely. My TikTok content is usually me talking, so I don’t use much music there. But on Instagram, I try to use alternative songs, and I think that's where my music sense comes through. I like a lot of Royal Otis, The Knocks, Oh, and I love Charlotte Rose Benjamin and Romy Mars. But I also grew up with the oldies and definitely have an appreciation for that. Like Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. “Swinging on the Moon” is one of my favorites. That ‘50s and ‘60s glamour still inspires me.

Her playlist stretches beyond the present. Weaving mid-century glamour into her twenty-first-century content. 

She loves live music too — not the massive concerts, but smaller, more intimate sets. At her old university, bands played on Tuesday nights. She and her best friend went religiously after dinner, relishing the nearness of it all. This summer, on Martha’s Vineyard, she caught Dock Street Fight Club, a young band on the rise.

When asked who she would see in concert if she could choose anyone, alive or dead, her answer arrived without hesitation, “Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett together. They did a few last performances together right before he died. I wish I could’ve been there”.

For MT, summer is nothing short of transformative. As a teenager, it was defined by sailing. Now, it’s something broader: a season for experimentation, self-discovery, and setting the tone for the year ahead.

ROSIE: Do you feel each summer changes you?

MT: Absolutely. Summers have always meant a lot to me. When I was younger, my summers were spent sailing, so it defined everything in my social life and all. But leaving that, now it’s more about experimenting, discovering myself each year. June is my birthday month, so it always feels like a rebirth and transformative time, and August sets the tone for the rest of the year.

When asked how to survive a hot, messy summer, she distilled it to a mantra: “Be your own best friend. Put yourself first sometimes. That’s it.”

In a city where the heat can suffocate, her advice feels like both a survival tactic and a call to joy.

One of the beautifully special takeaways from talking with MT is her belief that both style and life come down to silhouette — to what flatters and what feels right for you. It’s a philosophy she extends to her audience, her “chicks,” reminding them that while her hillhouse dress or blush shade may not be everyone's right choice, there is one out there for you. The goal is always the same: to find people, places, and things that uplift you, honor your energy, and illuminate your authenticity, beauty, and comfort wherever it lives. There isn’t one perfect silhouette, but there is one meant for everyone — and once you find it, it should be cherished. 

For MT, summer is never just a backdrop but a central character. MT isn’t just another voice online. She’s a reminder that summers, especially hot ones, are for reinvention. The heat forces us to surrender, to change. To be a Hot Child in the City is to embrace it all: the sweat, the chaos, the nostalgia, and above all, the freedom.