Timberland also appeared on last year’s Met Gala red carpet with Luar and “Industry” star Myha’la.Timberland also appeared on last year’s Met Gala red carpet with Luar and “Industry” star Myha’la.
Following last year’s Met Gala debut with Luar and “Industry” star Myha’la, Timberland was back again with bespoke boots worn by Public School creative directors Maxwell Osbourne and Dao-Yi Chow.
The VF Corp.-owned brand noted that the custom boots were designed in partnership with Public School New York, engineered and hand-made in Timberland’s in-house maker space dubbed “The Shed” in accordance with this year’s Costume Art theme.
Crafted from premium vegetable-tanned leather from renowned tannery Wickett & Craig and inspired by the Timberland’s signature Premium 6-Inch Boot, the silhouette features a narrower quarter panel with six eyelets versus the traditional seven, an enlarged toe box, and increased toe spring.
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Further elevation was achieved through a refined leather collar, hand-painted and burnished tongue and quarter panel, woven waxed laces, nickel-plated bronze eyelets, and a Vibram Montagna outsole featuring three stacks of vegetable-tanned midsoles—each hand-dyed and polished black.
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Capping off the look is a unique toe guard crafted from 20-gauge copper custom-formed to the boot and plated in nickel.
The tongue features the Public School New York logo, while the hang tag has Public School New York on one side and the Timberland tree logo on the other. The boots are fully leather lined in a wheat nubuck, and foil embossed. Only two pairs were made.
For Osbourne and Chow, they needed shoes to “ground” their looks for the night.
Courtesy of Timberland
“Our concept was built around the idea of the ‘First Machines’ and how certain bodies have historically been rendered soulless, so our silhouette from head to toe was meant to abstract the human body to almost robot-like shapes,” the duo said in a joint statement.
Timberland is no stranger to designer collaborations. In addition to Luar and Public School, Timberland has also teamed up with Louis Vuitton, Jacquemus, Telfar and Aime Leon Dore to name just a few.
The 2026 Met Gala took place on Monday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This year’s exhibition, “Costume Art,” celebrated fashion as an art form, with a dress code of “Fashion Is Art.” The event was co-chaired by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour, with Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos serving as honorary chairs. The annual benefit raises funds for the Met’s Costume Institute.
Courtesy of Timberland
