We thought jeggings were the last frontier in the leggings craze, not to mention the downward turn in a persistent fash “moment” that simply refuses to end. That is, until, we spotted these bleggings (black leather leggings) on Ashlee SImpson in NYC today (she was guesting on Alexa Chung‘s show). Turns out, the trend we tried to turn a blind eye to awhile back has indeed caught on with celebs and their stylists alike (apparently Rachel Zoe just pronounced black leather leggings a must-have for fall—d’oh!) and judging from the crazy amount of them we’ve spotted on ShopStyle, well, bleggings are like, all official and s**t. And as silly as they are, why is that we’re kind of craving them? Maybe it’s the rock ‘n’ roll vibe they give off, or the Angelina-back-in-her-edgier-Billy-Bob-days appeal. No matter, the fact is, here’s one item where it seems ridic to splurge: I mean, it’s not like we’ll be wearing these into our old age. And due to all that leather, much like thigh-high boots, they’re stupid expensive, too. Yet, we miraculously dug up this pair of fake-but-high-quality leather Armani Exchange which are a steal at an online exclusive price of $48. Must be kismet.

It’s no longer enough to wear a pair of shoes, a shirt, or a skirt. No, fashion has gotten so much more complicated. Now there are articles with names like shooties (pictured) and jeggings, because combination clothes are so hot right now. What began with the skort back in the ‘60s has become a full-on pandemic this year. When will we let a pair of pants be a pair of pants? Not anytime soon. After the jump, five combination clothing items we see on the horizon.

Whitney Port is the bravest girl we know. She is the first person we’ve seen try the jean-legging combo. While she’s thin enough that they don’t look bad, we wonder if they’re cutting off her circulation. [LA, 5/19/09]