For adults, "sagging" has long been a marker of slovenliness or something more sinister. But the style might just be the latest iteration of fashion freighted with some old anxieties.

Wide baggy jeans were once considered an underground hype, then gained popularity in the ’90s before the fashion industry ...

Sagging pants is a trend that sees people wearing their trousers so low you can see their boxers. It has deep American roots and a controversial history.

Sagging has tracked with that: the huge, baggy jeans of the 1990s have been replaced with skinny jeans and pants today. (Unless, you know, you're Michael Jordan.) But let's back up a bit.