It's impossible to look at BEEN BY D'HEYGERE's ultra-realistic prints without your mouth watering. Last season designer Stéphanie D'Heygere brought us basketball textured grids alongside waffle patterns; for the spring collection she went south of the border and brought back mermaid, cacti, and watermelon innards as textile inspo. What's the common thread there? "I love Mexico!" Stéphanie explained via e-mail. "I traveled through Mexico last summer and that's where I got my ideas from." Stéphanie started her line in 2011, after first producing leggings with prints inspired by Hieronymus Bosch while still in school at Antwerp's Royal Academy.
Ever since, she's explored ways of re-introducing the textures of everyday objects by using them as patterns. "By blowing up the textures, you get to see new things. It's a new unexplored world; sometimes people don't even recognize the prints." Her other focus is on silhouettes, creating both oversized mesh tops and figure-hugging spandex garments like swimsuits and leggings. Although it seems almost an oxymoron to print delicious foods on such tight garments, the complexity of the tricky material is where Stéphanie's attention to detail really shines through: "At one point in my life leggings were the only pants I was wearing, and I design for myself. I like using stretchy material that is close to the body because I specifically place the prints to emphasize the shape of the body, like the big dark lines on the mermaid print." And what about watermelons, the fruit which has made a repeat appearance this season? "Well, my favorite fruit is actually strawberry, but I've yet to get a good print of it. Hopefully next summer!"
Shop all Been by D'Heygere here.
![]()
Photo by Stephanie de Smet, courtesy of Been by D'Heygere
![]()
oversized mermaid scale t-shirt
![]()
oversized cactus t-shirt
![]()
watermelon bathing suit
![]()
mermaid scale bathing suit
![]()
mermaid scale leggings
![]()
cactus leggings
![]()
watermelon leggings
Ever since, she's explored ways of re-introducing the textures of everyday objects by using them as patterns. "By blowing up the textures, you get to see new things. It's a new unexplored world; sometimes people don't even recognize the prints." Her other focus is on silhouettes, creating both oversized mesh tops and figure-hugging spandex garments like swimsuits and leggings. Although it seems almost an oxymoron to print delicious foods on such tight garments, the complexity of the tricky material is where Stéphanie's attention to detail really shines through: "At one point in my life leggings were the only pants I was wearing, and I design for myself. I like using stretchy material that is close to the body because I specifically place the prints to emphasize the shape of the body, like the big dark lines on the mermaid print." And what about watermelons, the fruit which has made a repeat appearance this season? "Well, my favorite fruit is actually strawberry, but I've yet to get a good print of it. Hopefully next summer!"
Shop all Been by D'Heygere here.
Photo by Stephanie de Smet, courtesy of Been by D'Heygere
oversized mermaid scale t-shirt
oversized cactus t-shirt
watermelon bathing suit
mermaid scale bathing suit
mermaid scale leggings
cactus leggings
watermelon leggings