I'm wearing my tried-and-true Gap khakis and can't help but recall the late 1990s:

Baby baby it looks like its gonna hail
Baby baby it looks like its gonna hail
You better come inside and lemme teach ya how to jive and wail

Ten years ago, one ad campaign - one thirty second spot - sparked a revival of swing dancing and put a spotlight on an optimistic and exuberant young generation. Khaki Swing, produced in-house by Gap's creative director Lisa Prisco, took Madison Avenue by storm, went on to win awards, and landed in the Whitney Museum's 20th Century retrospective alongside its siblings: Khaki Country, Rock, Soul, Hip-Hop, and A-Go-Go.

With the help of flicks like Swingers, a newfound love for cocktails in the bar scene, and a rediscovery of frenetic swing on the dance floor... the sounds of Brian Setzer Orchestra, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Royal Crown Revue, and Squirrel Nut Zippers were suddenly everywhere (Zoot Suit Riot, anyone?). Life couldn't be better.

It was 1998. The millennium was just around the corner, peace talks were making strides in Israel and Northern Ireland, the internet and the economy were booming, the Clintons weathered their marital storms, Michael Jordan won his final championship, and John Glenn returned to space. I stood alongside my fellow 354 high school graduates in a sleepy town tucked away in the mountains of Virginia... and was filled with a sense of boundless possibility. I was heading to college, I had a dear group of friends (who loved to dance), and all the golden opportunity we had grown up with in the '80s was spread out in front of us, ripe for the taking.

Gap introduced a cheeky new commercial, Boyfriend Trouser, in 2007... a nice throwback to their old dance ads, featuring Claire Danes and Patrick Wilson. And while we've grown up a little (at least beyond the Matrix-style filming and chunky, uncomfortable shoes), I'd like to think that our generation still embodies the same hopeful spirit we exhibited as teenagers. A spirit that knows how to find the good and praise it (hat tip to my college graduation speaker Lamar Alexander), turn lemons into lemonade, and step in from the bad weather with the prospect of learning some exhilarating dance moves.