One can only imagine the stampede that would ensue were a pair of black rats to scuttle down the runway at a packed-to-the-rafters New York fashion week show. But the ones that emerged on the Sass & Bide catwalk in February induced a frenzy more hungry than horrified: Nicky Hilton was among the attendees who barely waited for the bow from designers Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton before she texted their publicist asking for a pair of the brand's new "black rats," shirred leggings with a metallic shimmer and a Sex Pistols sneer. "I love leggings, and Sass & Bide's are my absolute favorite this season," noted Hilton of the so-called "rats," the punkish sexiness of which have also earned a wearing or two by the likes of Zooey Deschanel, the Kills' Alison Mosshart, and model Lily Donaldson. But actress fan Michelle Monaghan may have summed up the black rats' appeal best: "They make me feel like a vixen!" Here's to a plague of those.