Isn't It Iconic? – Harper's Bazaar

Harper’s BAZAAR’s September theme is Icons, and with our cover star, Beyoncé, we have not disappointed. But even as the concept of an icon is timeless, the meaning of the adjective iconic has shifted over time. In the breathless parlance of a certain section of the internet, iconic can mean anything and everything. It can describe the fleeting perfection of a Whitney Houston run and the niche obsession with a regional soda brand. What does this changing usage mean, and where does it come from? To find out, we speak to the hosts of the pop culture podcast Who? Weekly, Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger, experts on dissecting cultural minutia and tracing how it all links together to describe our current moment. When did you first notice entertainment press and/or fandoms using the word iconic?Bobby Finger: I think of it as a Tumblr thing. Lindsey and I both were on Tumblr a lot in the early 2010s, the late aughts. That’s actually how we met. I think of it as a one-word re-blog of a Tumblr post, where you just have almost nothing to say. It’s an easy way to encapsulate all of your thoughts. It’s just iconic, whether it’s…
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