The master of funky, affordable footwear, Steve Madden, has teamed up with Zappos.com to give footwear fiends a chance to design their own Steve Madden shoe to be produced and sold by the online retail giant.

The "Sole Search" contest is going on now through Dec. 24. After all of the entries are compiled, three lucky finalists -- one each from the boot, heel and flat categories -- will be selected to meet with Steve Madden himself in New York (yep, that's a free trip, too), where the shoe mogul will choose the winning design, which will then be produced by his company.

"I'm looking for insouciance and originality," the designer told StyleList exclusively (along with giving Lady Gaga a "Yay" and Alexander McQueen's crazy mutant shoes a "Nay," when asked).

But at the same time, he warns contest entrants, "Try not to be different for the sake of being different."

Don't have an iota of design experience? Fear not. While competitors can create their designs from scratch, others can download Steve Madden templates and patterns to get the creative juices flowing.

Head over to Zappos.com to view the 1000-plus entries and submit your own.

Find out more about Steve Madden, including his deal with the Olsen twins and his Footwear News Award.