With a lot of people's wallets in a pinch these days, you may not have hundreds of dollars to spend on dresses for all of the upcoming fabulous fall and winter soirees you have to attend: your friend's wedding, your foe's annual holiday party, your Project Runway...

Back from our trendspotting trip across Asia, we're playing total TiVo catch-up. Which means we're finally caught up on the Rachel Zoe Project. Have you been watching? Do you DIE? Either way, it got us to thinking shoes, shoes, shoes, which naturally led us to...