diff --git a/app/main.cpp b/app/main.cpp
--- a/app/main.cpp
+++ b/app/main.cpp
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
 #include <QFileInfo>
 #include <QDir>
 #include <QProcess>
+#include <QResource>
 #include <QSessionManager>
 #include <QTextStream>
 #include <QDBusInterface>
@@ -240,6 +241,16 @@
     return projectAsSession;
 }
 
+static void tryLoadIconResources()
+{
+    const QString breezeIcons = QStandardPaths::locate(QStandardPaths::DataLocation, QStringLiteral("icons/breeze/breeze-icons.rcc"));
+    if (!breezeIcons.isEmpty() && QFile::exists(breezeIcons)) {
+        // prepend /icons to the root to comply with KIcon* machinery
+        QResource::registerResource(breezeIcons, QStringLiteral("/icons/breeze"));
+        QIcon::setThemeSearchPaths(QStringList() << QStringLiteral(":/icons"));
+    }
+}
+
 static qint64 findSessionPid(const QString &sessionId)
 {
     KDevelop::SessionRunInfo sessionInfo = KDevelop::SessionController::sessionRunInfo( sessionId );
@@ -379,6 +390,8 @@
 
     KCrash::initialize();
 
+    tryLoadIconResources();
+
     Kdelibs4ConfigMigrator migrator(QStringLiteral("kdevelop"));
     migrator.setConfigFiles({QStringLiteral("kdeveloprc")});
     migrator.setUiFiles({QStringLiteral("kdevelopui.rc")});