Ahead of creative director Matthieu Blazy‘s debut runway show at Milan Fashion Week, Bottega Veneta has launched an AR app.

Bottega Veneta isn’t known for having a prominent social media presence, instead opting for non-traditional marketing approaches and wide scale physical campaigns. Following in its wake is an augmented reality app — the brand’s first. When downloaded, users hold their smartphone against any green surface, after which the app shares a swathing list of cryptic imagery, including: a slate grey Bottega logo, shards of silver metal, a naked torso, a man wearing beige trousers and a white turtleneck, an industrial scene featuring what looks like a cube of precious metal and a lime. The app is being positioned by the brand as “the doorway to creativity”, according to a statement.

The app teases Matthieu Blazy’s debut as the new creative director of Bottega Veneta, following the surprise exit of Daniel Lee in November.

This season, for the first time since Covid-19 erupted in Italy in February 2020, in-person shows with audiences will outnumber pre-taped shows and films streamed for homebound fashionistas.

“After nearly two years of disruption, the global fashion industry is once again finding its feet,” wrote consultancy McKinsey in a December report.