Festive garment with fasteners

Abstract

A festive garment for wearing at celebrations including a garment for covering the upper body of the wearer, the garment having a front side and a back side, the garment having a plurality of fasteners on the front side and the back side of the garment adapted to receive paper money therein, the fasteners being aligned on the front side and the back side of the garment in vertical columns and horizontal rows.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to garments for covering the upper body of the wearer. More particularly, the invention relates to garments covering the upper body of the wearer having fasteners thereon for attaching various items.

In some cultures, and in particular in the southern part of Louisiana, it is comn at wedding parties or receptions held after the wedding for the bride and the groom to participate in a custom or ritual referred to as the “money dance”. In the money dance, music is played and both the bride and the groom dance individually with various guests at the reception. Each guest requesting a dance with the bride or the groom attaches paper money or currency to the dress of the bride or the coat of the groom as a wedding gift to the bride or groom in exchange for the dance.

The paper money or currency is commonly attached to the garment of the bride or groom utilizing a common straight pin well known in the art comprising a short piece of wire having a head on one end and a point on the other end. The paper money is placed against the garment of the bride or groom and the point of the straight pin is forced first through the paper money, then through the garment, and again through the paper money a second time to secure the paper money to the garment. The dance of the guest with the bride or groom commonly commences immediately after the guest attaches paper money to the garment of the bride or groom and continues for a short period of time.

Difficulty in attaching paper money to the garment of the bride or groom with straight pins is common. Aligning a straight pin with the paper money and garment and inserting the pin through both to attach the paper money to the garment requires that the guest attaching the paper money possess some skill and dexterity. Lighting in the area in which the wedding party or reception is held may be subdued and not ideal for utilizing a straight pin for attachment of paper money to a garment, and the ability of some guests may be impaired by the consumption of alcoholic beverages at the reception.

A money dance may also be performed for an individual being hosted at a party in their honor such as a birthday party or the like. Guests at the party requesting a dance with the individual for whom the party is provided attach paper money to the garment of the individual prior to beginning the dance.

It is therefore desirable to overcome the difficulties encountered with attaching paper money to the garment of a bride or groom with straight pins.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Garments having fasteners connected thereto are known in the art. Exemplary of the prior art are the following U.S. Patents: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,087,864; 4,369,526; 6,209,134 and U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2003/0159194 A1.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a festive garment for wearing at celebrations including a garment for covering the upper body of the wearer, the garment having a front side and a back side, the garment having a plurality of fasteners on the front side and the back side of the garment adapted to receive paper money therein, the fasteners being aligned on the front side and the back side of the garment in vertical columns and horizontal rows. Preferably the garment is a vest which may be worn over other clothing or undergarments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front plan view of the festive garment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear plan view of garment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the garment shown in FIG. 1 being worn by a male;

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the garment shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a fastener on the garment shown in FIGS. 1-3; and

FIG. 6 is a front plan view of an alternate embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings, the garment of the invention is generally indicated by the numeral 10. Garment 10 is manufactured from any garment material known in the art such as cotton fabric, fabrics made from synthetic materials, and the like. Garment 10 has a bodice portion generally indicated by the numeral 12 and two sleeves 14-14.

The bodice portion 12 is one piece and is open at the top to receive the head and neck of the wearer and at the bottom to receive the midriff or torso of the wearer. Preferably, the bodice portion 12 has a V-neck 16, although other neck styles such as crew neck could be utilized.

Garment 10 has two adjacent adjoining front sides 20a and 20b connected together by a zipper 18. If desired, buttons, hooks and eyes, Velcro® strips, or other conventional devices may be use for connecting side 20a to side 20b. Front sides 20a and 20b extend downward to the waist of the wearer or further if desired.

Garment 10 has a back side 22 integrally connected to and integrally formed with the two front sides 20a and 20b. Back side 22 extends downward to the waist of the wearer or further if desired.

A plurality of fasteners 24 are connected to the front sides 20a and 20b and to the back side 22 of garment 10. Preferably, fasteners 24 are aligned in horizontal rows on the front sides 20a and 20b and back side 22 of garment perpendicularly to the vertical axis of garment 10. Preferably, fasteners 24 are also aligned in vertical rows parallel to the vertical axis of garment 10.

A preferred fastener 24 is shown in detail in FIG. 5. Fastener 24 is well known in the art and is known in the art as an alligator clip. Fastener 24 has an elongated bottom jaw 24a pivotally connected by pin 24b to top jaw 24c and biased toward top jaw 24c by a spring (not shown) or the like as is well known in the art. Both bottom jaw 24a and top jaw 24c have teeth 26 thereon for gripping an object placed between bottom jaw 24a and top jaw 24c. Top jaw 24c has an enlarged tab portion 24d for depressing with the finger or thumb of the wearer to open top jaw 24c and bottom jaw 24a to insert paper money 28 between bottom jaw 24a and top jaw 24c. If desired, other fasteners known in the art may be attached to garment 10 to secure objects such as paper money 28 to garment 10.

Fastener 24 is preferably connected to garment 10 by thread 30 as shown in FIG. 5. Fastener 24 has a circular opening 25 at the end of bottom jaw 24a for receipt of thread 30. Thread 30 is sewn into garment 10 to secure fastener 24 to garment 10.

In FIG. 6 is shown an alternate embodiment of the invention wherein 15 fastener 24 is connected to garment 10 by rivet 32 which is received in circular opening 25 at the end of bottom jaw 24a. Rivet 32 extends through garment 10 to secure fastener 24 to garment 10.

If desired, the bottom jaw 24a of fastener 24 may be secured to garment 10 by glue or cement.

Adjacent fasteners 24 are preferably spaced apart a distance equal to the width of paper money 28. However, any desired spacing of fasteners 24 may be utilized if desired.

Although the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described in detail above, it should be understood that the invention is in no sense limited thereby, and its scope is to be determined by that of the following claims:

Claims

1. A festive garment for wearing at celebrations including a garment for covering the upper body of the wearer, said garment comprising: (a) a front side and a back side; and (b) a plurality of fasteners on said front side and said back side of said garment adapted to receive paper money therein, wherein said fasteners are aligned on the front side and the back side of said garment in vertical columns and horizontal rows.

2. The garment of claim 1 wherein said fastener is an alligator clip.