Miss Georgia was spotted wearing custom 3D-printed high-heels

3D-printed shoes have, until now, mostly been the stuff of art exhibits and fashion shows presaging a world in which we all look like we’re wearing alien life forms. On Saturday, shoes molded by 3D printing got a far wider showing, parading along New Jersey’s Atlantic City boardwalk on the feet of Miss Georgia, Maggie Bridges. At the traditional “Show Us Your Shoes” procession — where Miss America hopefuls wear fancy footwear honoring their home state — Bridges sported a pair of custom-engineered wedges inspired by the Ramblin’ Wreck, the 1930 Ford Model A Sport coupe that serves as student body mascot at Georgia Tech, where Bridges is a senior. Georgia Tech industrial design students Maren Sonne, Jordan Thomas, and Julia Brooks fashioned the sparkly shoes, which feature a finely detailed laser-cut grille with 3D-printed headlights; a laser-cut black and gold pattern on the heels; and little 3D-printed wheels, complete with tread details, along the sides. The trio originally considered designing a shoe that said science with every step. “We were looking at DNA strands and beakers used in chemistry and stuff,” Sonne says in a video about the design process. In the end end, they opted for a distinctly recognizable Georgia Tech icon, the Ramblin’ Wreck.