D’heygere: The Art of Accessory as Everyday Subversion

05/06/2023

Writer：Ben Vickers

In an industry often obsessed with glamour and spectacle, D’heygere offers a quieter, more subversive revolution. Founded in Paris in 2018 by Belgian designer Stéphanie D’heygere, the accessories label reimagines the ordinary—lighters, ashtrays, pens, combs—as elegant and functional fashion objects. Through subtle wit and surreal charm, D’heygere turns the utilitarian into the poetic.

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, D’heygere sharpened her conceptual instincts at the studios of Margiela and Dior before launching her own label. Her vision is distinct: accessories not just as decoration, but as commentary. Her pieces are clever and deliberate, often with hidden uses—a ring that stores pills, a belt that doubles as a mirror, earrings shaped like cigarette holders. They are as much tools as they are adornments.

But beneath their utility lies something more conceptual. D’heygere’s work draws on the tradition of Duchampian readymades and surrealist inversion. A comb becomes a hair clip. A pair of scissors is reborn as a necklace. The boundary between object and ornament collapses, and in doing so, the act of accessorizing becomes an act of re-seeing.

D’heygere’s collections have quickly gained a cult following for this reason. They appeal to those who want more than beauty—they want conversation, contradiction, and play. Her collaborations with brands like Gentle Monster and Wouters & Hendrix further explore this playful hybridity, merging eyewear and jewelry into single, multi-functional forms.

What’s most striking about D’heygere, though, is not just the inventiveness, but the accessibility of her vision. Her designs are humorous without being ironic, clever without condescension. There is a tenderness to the way she honors the overlooked object, giving it new life, new purpose, and a place within personal style.

In an age where fashion can feel detached from daily life, D’heygere’s work feels grounded. Not only in reality, but in curiosity, in mischief, in care. It asks a simple but powerful question: what if the things we carry every day—our pens, our combs, our lighters—were beautiful? What if design didn’t begin with luxury, but with utility transformed?

With each collection, Stéphanie D’heygere reminds us that surprise is still possible in fashion. Her accessories do not scream for attention—they whisper. And in that quiet, they reshape the very idea of what it means to wear something meaningful.