Eventually, we all fall into the Gap

So I'm trying to find out why they say corn is bad for you and if it's better for you to eat it raw or cooked and I found this:



Who cares if it's good for you or not?! Kitten! Eating corn!!

I just saw these great pictures from a Southern Belle Swing Bash in Atlanta and besides wondering why we don't have something like that here, I'm wondering, was anyone else into swing music/fashion back in the 90s? Because if we're really doing scrunchies again, as this girl is so enthusiastically assuring me:



Can we also re-do swing?



Remember the awesome scene in Swingers (favorite movie after West Side Story...) when Mike finally meets Lorraine and they dance?!



Which reminds me that the Gap used to have that awesome Khaki Swing commercial:



which was part of a whole series of khaki dancing commercials in the late 90s.











And the awesome singing commercials from the same time.







That's it. I'm bringing khakis back. AND this has officially become a post dedicated to The Gap. I used to shop at the one in Town and Country Center in K-hole (after stopping into the Sanrio store and lunch at Cafe Tokyo: my first sushi love. No other Japanese restaurant will ever compare to their black-and-white checkerboard floors, neon pink lighting, awkwardly-shaped booths, Japanese pop, kitschy souvenirs and cheap cheap food) because, since no one went to Town and Country, everything at that Gap was always on sale. I think 90% of my wardrobe came from there, including (!!!) this amazing little red embroidered bag that I wore everywhere, all the time from 1995 until 2001, seen in this (horrendous) picture from Grad Nite'01:


(You really can not have any idea of how thrilled I am I was able to find a picture of this bag for this post.)

Anyway, the Gap was great - lots of basics, but still plenty of fun items like that bag. They also had tons of scarves and cute socks. Everything was sort of classic, sort of nondescript. It's not like you walked around in a new Gap shirt and everyone knew immediately where you had bought it. It was just the epitomy of cool, chic, relaxed and put-together. Nothing was too expensive and there was a variety of sizes that fit properly - which, if you shop at stores now, (*ahem ahem* Forever 21, Urban Outfitters) you realize what a luxury that was. And remember the perfumes?! Grass, Om, Dream, Heaven???? I loooooved the turquoise-hued Heaven.

And then, in 2000, they came out with the Mike Mill's West Side Story commercials. You see how this all comes full circle?



There were two more - one to "America" and one to "Mambo" but, alas, those two are not as easy to find as the picture of my awesome red purse.

The sad thing is that at some time during my high school years, I worked at Old Navy (ughhh Sunset Place) for one week. On the seventh day, Sunday, I decided I needed rest and therefore decided that I didn't really need to go to work at 7 a.m. for cash register training. The manager called my house around 8 a.m., waking up my dad, who came and woke me up. I don't remember the conversation too well, because I was half-asleep, but I think it went something like this:

"Claudia, are you aware that it is now 8 a.m. and you were expected to be at work one hour ago?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have a reason for not coming into work this morning?"

"I didn't want to wake up."

"Are you planning on coming in today at all?"

"No. I don't think so."

[sputtering]"Are you aware that if you do not come in today we will have to FIRE you?"

"No, don't worry about it, I quit."

"I have to tell you that you will not be able to ever work at another Old Navy, Gap, or Banana Republic."

" ... "


I guess that's around the time my love affair with the Gap ended.

Which is why I remained unaware of this AWESOME commercial until now:



I don't think I like the all-new Gap.