I think that this might only be possible through a dedicated "Icon theme" extension. However, it seems pretty easy to contribute to one of the largest icon themes in the marketplace: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vscode-icons-team.vscode-icons
Another option would be to just write a short configuration that users can put in their settings for the icon theme extension.
I think that this might only be possible through a dedicated "Icon theme" extension. However, it seems pretty easy to contribute to one of the largest icon themes in the marketplace: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vscode-icons-team.vscode-icons
Another option would be to just write a short configuration that users can put in their settings for the icon theme extension.