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Remember college dropout Bella McFadden (aka “Internet Girl”), who became a Depop mogul thanks to her e-commerce trove of early-aughts thrifted clothes? Turns out, the Hot Topic beauty queen can credit part of her success to her boyfriend, Matt Spencer, a graphic designer who bears a resemblance to Slim Shady and shares McFadden’s keen eye for red-hot mall-rat fashion.
Their love is more than evident on social media, too. The duo are often seen locking lips in Y2K-era garb. Think: Spencer in an oversize pentagram-stamped T-shirt; McFadden in a short, stretchy dress seemingly plucked from Spencer’s. A testament to their three-year relationship? The two once traveled to the Canadian town of Emo and staged a DIY photoshoot there. “It’s in the middle of nowhere,” says McFadden. Love does work in mysterious ways.
Here, learn more about the pair made in deadstock-purusing, secondhand store–loving heaven.
How exactly did McFadden and Spencer meet?California native Spencer locked eyes with Canada-born and bred McFadden the way many social media–lurking millennials do: Snapchat. Spencer thought McFadden was pretty and sent a rose to her through the app. “I don’t know!” says Spencer via FaceTime next to McFadden. “She was just really cute and we started talking.” A few months later, the two met in person in Montreal where McFadden was attending university. Soon after, the Internet Girl Depop empire was born.
Shopping together is their favorite activity.“We are both extremely temperamental and whenever we go shopping, it isn’t just that we choose something and say, ‘This is what we are getting,’ ” says McFadden. “We’ll go through an entire thrift store, then it comes to the end, and then we’ll head to the furniture section and we’ll go through every single thing that we’ve selected and make sure it works.”
According to McFadden, she’s just as obsessed with Spencer’s style as her own.“I love Matt’s dedication to a look. I swear he falls in love with a certain type of style, and you’ll catch him in it 24/7. Right now, he’s obsessed with Dickies pants, a statement sock, and a vintage band tee,” says McFadden. “Even though that sounds so simple, he knows how to capture it in a different way, every day. I swear that boy has more clothes than I do. He’s a total princess.”
Now, the two even look alike.McFadden recently shaved and bleached her hair, similar to Spencer’s buzzed head. “It’s liberating!” she says.
What’s happening for the duo in the future?So far, business has been very successful: Internet Girl’s Depop follower count has recently hit 400,000. (“That’s four times [more] than I have on Instagram!” says McFadden.) For the future, the duo are combining their love for all things yesteryear and designing a capsule collection with American Deadstock in October. And there’s more: McFadden is launching her own site, internetgirl.clothing, next week, a melange of original designs and deadstock. Stay tuned.
