Adjustable Fashion Clothing Accessories and Methods of Using Same

Abstract

A fashion clothing accessory is adjustable, and may be removable or permanent. Two ornamental members have fastening mechanisms for attachment to the clothing at discrete areas thereon, and are attached or attachable to two flexible elongate members that can be secured together at different possible intermediate points therealong using an adjustment mechanism. With the accessory attached to the clothing, the mechanism provides adjustments to both the accessory and clothing by changing its position on the flexible members in order to pull the ornamental members closer together or allow them to drift further apart. The adjustment mechanism may also feature ornamental elements. In addition to this function of changing the appearance and fit of clothing, the ornamental elements provide additional style.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/891,782, filed May 10, 2013, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to ornamental clothing accessories, and more particularly to a clothing accessory and mode of use that can be employed to create a gathering effect drawing together two discrete areas of a piece of clothing while providing an ornamental presentation between the these drawn together areas.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates to a removable or permanent adjustable fashion accessory that attaches to clothing or other desired articles. It can modify the look of clothing by adding additional style, and/or adjusting the fit without having to make permanent alterations.

Conventionally, known ways to change the fit of clothing has typically required safety pins and/or alterations which can cause damage to the article. Belts are also worn as an accessory and/or to adjust the fit of a garment.

Fashion accessories have a long history and are worn for many reasons and have been used to enhance appearance and self expression. There are numerous fashion items such as earrings, rings, necklaces, bracelets and belts.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,793,518 discloses a magnetic clothes gathering clasp in which a chain extending between two ornamentally shaped members is folded around a free edge of a piece of clothing so as to situate the two ornamentally shaped members on opposing interior and exterior sides of the clothing, whereupon magnetic attraction between the members fastens or secures them in place. The selected area of the clothing at which the magnetic members are coupled normally resides at a distance from the clothing edge that exceeds more than half of the chain length, whereby the folding of the chain about the clothing edge causes the clothing to bunch up inside the fold of the chain in order to a gathering effect that pulls the clothing edge toward the area at which the magnetic members are coupled.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,443, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an adjustable necklace in which two free ends of the necklace are fed through a spring loaded clamping device having some functional resemblance to a conventional cord stop, but featuring two dedicated cord passages that each receive a respective one of the two necklace ends through it. Squeezing together of two opposing ends of the cord stop is used to release the spring-actuated self-locking action of the stop on the necklace.

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0269239 teaches magnetic attachment of accessories to a piece of clothing, but relies on permanently affixed magnets on the clothing in order to do so. Accordingly, the accessories cannot be used with existing conventional clothing of a user's wardrobe, at least not without having to make modifications thereto.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,868,555 discloses a device for decorating a piece of clothing and converting the shape of same through a gathering effect, but does so by gathering together free edges of the garment using a set of three hooks that engage around the edges in order to enable pulling of the edges together by extensions that reach outward from a central member of the device to the three hooks. The device is thus intended only for gathering together of exterior edges of the garment, thus limiting the applications for which the device is suitable.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,123,601 discloses a dress shirt accessory for preventing curling of collar tips, and optionally maintaining the position of a tie.

The forgoing list of prior art references is presented for the purpose of identifying known accessories that may comparable in some way to the present invention, but it will be apparent from the following description that the present invention provides notable distinction over the prior art in terms of both physical structure and modes of use of the clothing accessory disclosed herein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a clothing accessory comprising:

first and second ornamental members each comprising a respective fastening mechanism arranged for fastening of said ornamental member to a respective one of two discrete areas on a piece of clothing in a respective position placing a respective ornamental exterior of said ornamental member outwardly visible at said respective one of the two discrete areas on the piece of clothing;

first and second flexible elongate members comprising respective attachment ends that are connected or connectable to the first and second ornamental members, and respective free ends located distal to said attachment ends;

an adjustment member arranged for selective securing together of the first and second flexible elongate members at any one of a plurality of possible intermediate points along the attachment members between the attachment ends and free ends thereof, whereby adjustment of the adjustment member to move from a first intermediate point on the flexible elongate members to a selected intermediate point that is located closer to the attachment ends of the flexible elongate members acts to draw together the first and second ornamental members and thereby gather the first and second discrete areas of the piece of the clothing toward one another.

Preferably each ornamental member comprises a respective outer piece defining the ornamental exterior of said ornamental member and a separate inner piece, and the fastening mechanism of each ornamental member comprises a magnet on one of said inner and outer pieces and a magnetically attractable element on the other of said inner and outer pieces to magnetically couple the inner and outer pieces together through the piece of the clothing at the respective discrete area of the piece of the clothing.

Preferably each ornamental member comprises a coupling element at which the respective flexible elongate member is releasably connectable to said ornamental member.

Preferably each flexible elongate member comprises an attachment clasp at the attachment end thereof for selective connection and release of said attachment clasp to and from the coupling element of the respective ornamental member.

The accessory may be accompanied by a separate necklace, where the coupling element of each ornamental member allows disconnection thereof from the respective flexible elongate member and attachment of said ornamental member to said necklace for wearing of said ornamental member in a neck-worn position.

In one embodiment, the flexible elongate members comprises respective chains, intermediate links of which are located between the attachment ends and free ends of said chains and define the intermediate points at which the adjustment member is engagable to said chains.

In such instance, the adjustment member may comprise a securing clasp engagable through the intermediate links of said chains.

Preferably the adjustment member comprises a decorative exterior for facing outwardly away from the piece of the clothing for decorative effect.

The securing clasp may be at least partially concealed behind said decorative exterior of the adjustment member.

In another embodiment, the adjustment member is a spring loaded cord stop, and each flexible elongate member comprises a respective flexible cord feedable through the cord stop for automatic securing thereto via a spring loaded clamping action of said spring loaded cord stop.

The adjustment member may comprise a fastening device operable to fasten the adjustment member to an area of clothing at an intermediate location between the discrete areas at which the ornamental members are received.

In such instance, the adjustment member may comprises an outer unit and a separate inner unit, and the fastening device of the adjustment member comprises a magnet on one of said inner and outer units and a magnetically attractable element on the other of said inner and outer pieces to magnetically couple the inner and outer units together through the area of clothing at the intermediate location.

For each of the ornamental and adjustment members, the magnetically attractable element may be another magnet, whereby the magnets attract one another when oriented to face opposing poles of said magnets toward one another.

Preferably the adjustment member and the first and second flexible elongate members are arranged to freely suspend the free ends of said flexible elongate members from the adjustment member while said adjustment member secures together said flexible elongate members at a selected intermediate point on said flexible elongate members.

The piece of clothing may comprise an opening therein, with the discrete areas disposed on opposing sides of said opening, whereby gathering the first and second discrete areas of the piece of the clothing toward one another using the clothing accessory acts to draw said opposing sides of the opening together to thereby reduce a size of said opening.

The opening in the piece of clothing may be a front-torso opening that runs longitudinally and centrally at a front side of a wearer's torso in a worn position of said piece of clothing, whereby the gathering of the first and second discrete areas together by the clothing accessory at least partially closes up the front-torso opening of the piece of clothing and tightens a circumferential fit of the piece of clothing around the wearer's torso.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of creating a gathering effect between two discrete areas on a piece of clothing that are normally spaced apart by a first distance when said piece of clothing is worn in a natural position, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) with first and second ornamental members respectively fastened to first and second ones of said two discrete areas on said piece of clothing, and with first and second flexible elongate members respectively connected to the first and second ornamental members at respective attachment ends of said flexible elongate members, drawing intermediate points on the flexible elongate members together at an intermediate area between the two discrete areas on said piece of clothing, thereby pulling the two ornamental members toward one another across said intermediate area in order to pull the discrete areas of the piece of clothing toward one another into a gathered relationship; and

(b) securing the intermediate points of said flexible elongate elements together at said intermediate area to thereby retain the gathered relationship of the discrete areas on said piece of clothing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates two ornamental members of a clothing accessory of the present invention that are magnetically fastened in place at two discrete areas on the same shirt or blouse.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 1 to illustrate the fastening of each ornamental member using magnetically attracted inner and outer pieces that reside inside and outside the clothing.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates one possible design for the ornamental members of FIG. 2, where the outer piece of the ornamental member defines an ornamental exterior thereof that faces outward from the exterior of the shirt.

FIG. 4 illustrates an assembled clothing accessory using two ornamental members of same design as FIG. 3, together with two flexible chains or cords that extend respectively from the two ornamental members and are connected by an adjustment member at intermediate points on the chains or cords.

FIG. 5 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the ornamental member of FIG. 3 in a fastened condition on the shirt of FIG. 1, as would be seen at cross-sectional plane V-V thereof.

FIG. 6 schematically illustrates the clothing accessory fastened to an sweater at opposing sides of a front torso opening thereof with the flexible chains/cords and the adjustment mechanism suspended in the front torso opening between the two ornamental members.

FIG. 7 schematically illustrates the clothing accessory of FIG. 6 after a tightening or gathering action has been performed by repositioning the adjustment member on the flexible chains/cords to draw the two ornamental members together, thereby gathering the two sides of the torso opening toward one another to close-up the opening and circumferentially tighten the sweater on the wearer.

FIG. 8 schematically illustrates wearing of select components of the accessory in alternate configurations for purely decorative purposes without performing the gathering effect demonstrated in FIGS. 6 and 7.

FIG. 9 illustrates use of the clamping device or double cord-stop of U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,443 as the adjustment member for the clothing accessory of FIGS. 6 and 7.

FIG. 10 is a rear perspective exploded view of one embodiment of a magnetically fastened ornamental member of the clothing accessory.

FIG. 11 is a front perspective exploded view of the magnetically fastened ornamental member of FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is a rear perspective view of another possible design of the adjustment member, particularly for embodiments employing chains as the flexible members.

FIG. 13 is a rear view of an assembled accessory employing the adjustment member of FIG. 13 with ornamental members of different ornamental appearance, but same magnetic fastening functionality, as the ornamental member illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates one of two ornamental members 10 used in assembling a clothing accessory of the present invention. The ornamental member features two distinct and separate pieces 12, 14. An outer piece 12 of the member defines an ornamental exterior of the member that faces outwardly away from a piece of clothing at the exterior thereof when the clothing accessory is worn. In the particular design shown in FIG. 3, the outer piece is made up of a base plate 16 from which a pendant-like ornament 18 with a plurality of gems 20 is suspended, but the ornamental decoration of the outer member may take any form, and may include any individual use or combination of jewels, chains, stones, cords, leather, plastic, metal, precious jewels, precious metals, diamonds, crystals, cloth, silver, gold or other various elements to provide an ornamental appearance that is pleasing to the eye.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the inner piece 14 consists solely of a magnet, for example a neodymium or other rare earth magnet. The base plate 16 of the outer piece is either made from a magnetically attractable material, or has a piece of magnetically attractable material attached to its rear face that opposes the front face of the base plate from which the ornamental pendant 18 is suspended. Alternatively, the base plate 16 may have its own magnet attached thereto, with one of the magnet's poles facing outwardly from the rear face of the base plate 16, whereby placement of the inner magnet 14 in an orientation facing its opposite pole toward the magnet of the outer piece 12 will act to magnetically attract and couple together the inner and outer pieces 14, 12.

FIG. 2 illustrates how this magnetic configuration can be used to fasten two such ornamental members 10 to a piece of clothing, for example to the shirt or blouse 100 of FIG. 1. For ease of illustration, this particular figure shows the outer piece 12 of each ornamental member 10 only schematically, without any ornamental detail. The inner piece 14 is placed inside the piece of the clothing 100 against the inner surface 102 of the fabric that faces the wearer's body when worn, whereupon placement of the rear face of the outer piece 12 in a matching position at the outer surface 104 of the fabric causes the inner and outer pieces to magnetically attract one another through the fabric. This magnetic bond acts to secure the inner outer pieces in clamped together condition across the thickness of the fabric in order to retain them in stationary positions relative to one another and the relative to the piece of clothing 100. Accordingly, the ornamental member is magnetically fastened to the clothing 100 in a secured position.

As shown in FIG. 1, each ornamental member 10 (again shown schematically without detail for ease of illustration) is fastened to the clothing 100 in this manner at a different respective one of two discrete areas of the clothing, which are sufficiently spaced apart to provide a notable distance of separation between the two ornamental members 10. For example, the figure shows the two ornamental members 10 situated at generally equal elevation upward from the circumferential edge of the torso-accommodating opening at the bottom of the shirt or blouse, but with the ornamental members notably spaced apart across the width of the front side of the torso.

Turning to FIG. 4, assembly of the clothing accessory 1 includes connection of an attachment end 22a of a respective chain, cord or other elongated flexible member 22 to each one of the ornamental members 10. With the two ornamental members 10 fastened to the clothing 100, and the cords/chains 22 attached thereto, assembly of the accessory is completed by installation of an adjustment member 24 on the two flexible members 22 in a manner securely interconnecting the two flexible members 22 together at a user-selected intermediate point along the lengths of the flexible members 22. The user-controllability of the position of the adjustment member 24 on the flexible members 22 can be used to perform a gathering effect on the article of clothing that pulls together the two discrete areas of the clothing at which the ornamental members are securely fastened by magnetic coupling.

This is further explained with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, in which the accessory 1 is shown in use on an open-front sweater 200 that has an opening 202 running longitudinally up the front side of the torso between two edges of the sweater. Each ornamental member 10 of the accessory 1 is fastened to the sweater 200 at a respective area thereof that resides adjacent a respective one of the two longitudinal edges 204 of the front-torso opening of the sweater. In FIG. 6, the adjustment member 24 is secured to the two flexible members 20 at points near their free ends 22b that lie distal to the attachment ends 22a that are attached to the two ornamental members 10. The length of each flexible member 22 is notably greater than half of the default width of the front torso opening 202 of the sweater when worn in a fully open position in which the two edges of the opening hang freely with no fastening means connected between them. The adjustment member 24 attaches the two flexible members together at matching points along their equal lengths, and thus is suspended at the horizontal center of the torso opening 202 at a height below the ornamental members 10, which thus angle downwardly and laterally inward from their respective attachments to the two ornamental members. The two flexible members 22 and the adjustment member thus form a decorative tie that joins together the two side edges 204 of the sweater opening 202 and hangs within the open area between the two sides edges of the torso opening.

Turning to FIG. 7, by relocating the adjustment member 24 upwardly along the flexible members 22 to a position nearer to their attachment to the respective ornamental members 10, the partial length of each flexible member that hangs downward from the adjustment member 24 is increased, while the partial length of each flexible member that reaches from the respective ornamental member 10 to the adjustment member 24 is accordingly reduced. This not only changes the visual appearance of the accessory, but acts to pull the two ornamental members 10 together toward the center of the torso, thus likewise drawing the two side edges 204 of the torso opening 202 together, which acts to partially close up the torso opening of the sweater and tighten the circumferential fit of the sweater about the wearer's torso. In other words, this adjustment of the accessory acts to gather-together the two discrete areas of the sweater at which the two ornamental members are magnetically fastened, thereby closing up the torso opening and tightening the fit of the sweater.

FIG. 9 illustrates possible use of a cord-stop clamping mechanism as the adjustment member 24, and corresponding use of flexible cords, strings, wires or cables as the flexible members 22. As shown, the cord stop clamping mechanism may be of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,443, whereby a separate dedicated passage 24a through the device is provided for each of the two flexible cords 22. To install the adjustment member 24, the free end 22b of each flexible cord 22 is passed through one of the two available cord passages 24a in the adjustment member while the ends of the adjustment member are held in a squeezed together condition that acts to release the default spring-clamping action of the cord stop. The cord stop 24 is slid to the desired position along the two flexible cords 22, at which point the squeezing action on the cord stop is released, whereby the cord stop securely clamps itself at this position on both of the flexible members 22, thereby locking the two cords 22 together at the selected intermediate position therealong.

A conventional single-passage cord stop may alternatively be used, where both cords 22 pass through a single passage in the cord stop. In either case, The cords may have some elasticity in order to allowing for some relative movement or give between the clothing and the accessory.

FIGS. 10 to 13 illustrate another embodiment of the accessory, which is configured for use of chains as the flexible elements instead of cords, cables, wires, strings or the like. FIGS. 10 and 11 show one of the ornamental members 10′ of such an embodiment, in which the outer piece 12′ is in the form of a pendant body 26 having a front face 28 that faces outward from the clothing exterior to form the visible ornamental exterior of the member 10′ when worn, and a rear face 30 that faces clothing when worn. A cylindrical socket 32 is recessed into pendant body 26 from the rear face 30 thereof to accommodate receipt of a cylindrical magnet 34 therein during manufacture of the accessory. A connection loop 36 fixed to the pendant body 26 at a bottom end thereof forms a connection point for releasable attachment of the respective flexible chain 22 to the pendant body via an openable and closeable clasp 38 that defines the attachment end 22a of the chain 22.

Each inner piece 14′ in this embodiment features a generally disc-shaped body 40 having a front face 42 that faces toward the interior surface of the clothing article, and an opposing rear face 44 that faces away therefrom and toward the wearer's body. The rear face 44 features a cylindrical socket 46 for receipt of a respective magnet 48 therein. This magnet 48 is oriented so that its forward-facing pole is opposite to the rearward-facing pole of the magnet 34 of the outer piece 12′, whereby the magnets will attract one another through the piece of clothing.

To improve the retention strength of the ornamental member's magnetically fastened position on the article of the clothing, the outer piece 12′ and the inner piece 14′ feature mating male and female features at the rear face 30 of the outer member and the front face 42 of the inner member. The outer piece 12′ features a raised collar 50 that projects from the remainder of its rear face 30 around the recessed socket 32 and the magnet received therein, and the inner piece features a cylindrical recess 52 of slightly greater diameter than the outer piece's collar 50. This way, the magnetic coupling together of the two pieces acts to nest the male collar 50 of the outer member within the female recess 52 of the inner member. This maintains axial alignment of the cylindrical magnets with one another, and prevents relative sliding between the inner and outer members in planes normal to the aligned axes of the cylindrical magnet. The cylindrical lie concentric with the mated collar and recess of the two pieces.

FIG. 12 shows the adjustment member 24′ of this embodiment, which features a generally disc-shaped body 60 having a front face that faces outwardly from the exterior of the clothing when worn, and an opposing rear face 64 that faces inwardly toward the clothing when worn. The rear face 64 features a cylindrical socket for receiving a cylindrical magnet 66 in the same manner as the ornamental members 10, whereby the adjustment member can also be optionally fastened to an underlying piece of clothing through use of a cooperating inner piece 14′ like that described above for each ornamental member 10′. A male collar 68 surrounds the socket and the magnet 66 therein, and projects from the body's rear face 64 to mate with the female socket 52 of the inner piece. Also projecting from the rear face 64 of the adjustment member body 60 is a U-shaped hanger bar 66, from which an openable and closeable clasp 68 is hung in a position that is substantially concealed behind the front face of the body 60 when the adjustment member 24′ is worn. The front face of the adjustment member may be configured with an ornamental pattern, design, gem setting, color or other ornamental value.

With reference to FIG. 13, this embodiment of the accessory is assembled by connecting the clasp 38 of each flexible chain 22 to the connection loop 36 of the respective ornamental member 10′ (which differ in FIG. 13 only in their ornamental shape, but otherwise have the same structure that is described above in relation to FIGS. 10 and 11), and the ornamental members are magnetically fastened to the piece of clothing in the manner described above. Instead of installing a cord lock and sliding the same along flexible cord members to a desired point of clamped connection therebetween, the clasp 66 of the adjustment member 24′ is simply opened up and engaged through two matching links 70 of the two flexible chains 22, thereby securing the two chains 22 together at this selected pair of matching intermediate links.

It will be appreciated that instead of using the chain clasps 38 and the rigidly closed connection loops 36 on the outer pieces 12′ of the ornamental bodies to form a releasable connection between the two, this configuration may be switched, or openable/closable clasps may be used on both. With reference to FIG. 8, by having all the components (i.e. the ornamental members, the flexible members and the adjustment member) completely detachable from one another, one or more components may be assembled in alternate configurations for ornamental/decorative wear that is independent of the clothing-gathering functionality described above. FIG. 8 shows one ornamental member 10′ being worn near the waistline of a dress, skirt or other garment 300 with a single flexible chain 22 hanging therefrom, and with the adjustment member 24′ attached to the single flexible chain to form a free-swinging or magnetically retained ornament hanging externally of the garment. Such ornamentation may be worn at the front of the garment 300, as shown, or at another location therearound. FIG. 8 shows the outer piece 12′ of the other ornamental member 10′ being worn on a necklace 300, for example by connection of a clasp of the necklace to the rigidly closed connection ring 36 of the ornamental piece 12′, or by connection of a clasp on the ornamental piece (if so equipped) to a link of a chain-type necklace, or to a connection loop of a chain, cord or other necklace type.

While the forgoing embodiments employ magnetic fasteners, the adjustable fashion accessory may be fastened or attached to the inside and outside of clothing using other fastener/coupling devices such as garter fasteners, rivets, snaps, clamps, hooks, jaw clips or other various means of fastening.

The disclosed accessory is usable on a wearer's existing or newly acquired wardrobe without requiring any specialized modification to same, and can be used not only as a fashionable accessory, but also to adjust or improve the fit of same through the described gathering function that pulls together the separate areas of the garment at which the ornamental members are placed. This accessory can be used on all body sizes and various articles of clothing, whether the need is to help hide a mid-section, accentuate the waist or wanting an improved fit. It can also be used on hats, or to change the length of a skirt or dress, and is easy to attach and remove. This accessory can help achieve any of a number of desirable looks.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as herein above described, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same made within the spirit and scope of the claims without department from such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

Claims

1. A clothing accessory comprising:

first and second ornamental members each comprising a respective fastening mechanism arranged for fastening of said ornamental member to a respective one of two discrete areas on a piece of clothing in a respective position placing a respective ornamental exterior of said ornamental member outwardly visible at said respective one of the two discrete areas on the piece of clothing;

first and second flexible elongate members comprising respective attachment ends that are connected or connectable to the first and second ornamental members, and respective free ends located distal to said attachment ends;

an adjustment member arranged for selective securing together of the first and second flexible elongate members at any one of a plurality of possible intermediate points along the attachment members between the attachment ends and free ends thereof, whereby adjustment of the adjustment member to move from a first intermediate point on the flexible elongate members to a selected intermediate point that is located closer to the attachment ends of the flexible elongate members acts to draw together the first and second ornamental members and thereby gather the first and second discrete areas of the piece of the clothing toward one another.

2. The clothing accessory of claim 1 wherein each ornamental member comprises a respective outer piece defining the ornamental exterior of said ornamental member and a separate inner piece, and the fastening mechanism of each ornamental member comprises a magnet on one of said inner and outer pieces and a magnetically attractable element on the other of said inner and outer pieces to magnetically couple the inner and outer pieces together through the piece of the clothing at the respective discrete area of the piece of the clothing.

3. The clothing accessory of claim 1 wherein each ornamental member comprises a coupling element at which the respective flexible elongate member is releasably connectable to said ornamental member.

4. The clothing accessory of claim 3 wherein each flexible elongate member comprises an attachment clasp at the attachment end thereof for selective connection and release of said attachment clasp to and from the coupling element of the respective ornamental member.

5. The clothing accessory of claim 3 in combination with a separate necklace, where the coupling element of each ornamental member allows disconnection thereof from the respective flexible elongate member and attachment of said ornamental member to said necklace for wearing of said ornamental member in a neck-worn position.

6. The clothing accessory of claim 1 wherein each flexible elongate member comprises a respective chain.

7. The clothing accessory of any one claim 1 wherein the first and second elongate members comprises first and second chains, respectively, in which intermediate links of said chains located between the attachment ends and free ends of said chains define the intermediate points at which the adjustment member is engagable to said chains.

8. The clothing accessory of claim 1 wherein the adjustment member comprises a decorative exterior for facing outwardly away from the piece of the clothing for decorative effect.

9. The clothing accessory of claim 8 wherein the adjustment member comprises an outer unit defining the decorative exterior of said adjustment member, a separate inner unit, a magnet on one of said inner and outer units, and a magnetically attractable element on the other of said inner and outer units to enable magnetically coupling of the inner and outer units together through an area of clothing at an intermediate location between the discrete areas at which the ornamental members are received.

10. The clothing accessory of claim 1 wherein the adjustment member is a spring loaded cord stop, and each flexible elongate member comprises a respective flexible cord feedable through the cord stop for automatic securing thereto via a spring loaded clamping action of said spring loaded cord stop.

11. The clothing accessory of claim 1 wherein the adjustment member comprises a fastening device operable to fasten the adjustment member to an area of clothing at an intermediate location between the discrete areas at which the ornamental members are received.

12. The clothing accessory of claim 11 wherein the adjustment member comprises an outer unit and a separate inner unit, and the fastening device of the adjustment member comprises a magnet on one of said inner and outer units and a magnetically attractable element on the other of said inner and outer pieces to magnetically couple the inner and outer units together through the area of clothing at the intermediate location.

13. The clothing accessory of claim 2 wherein the magnetically attractable element is another magnet, whereby the magnets attract one another when oriented to face opposing poles of said magnets toward one another.

14. The clothing accessory of claim 1 wherein the adjustment member and the first and second flexible elongate members are arranged to freely suspend the free ends of said flexible elongate members from the adjustment member while said adjustment member secures together said flexible elongate members at a selected intermediate point on said flexible elongate members.

15. The clothing accessory of claim 1 in combination with the piece of clothing, wherein the piece of clothing comprises an opening therein and the discrete areas are disposed on opposing sides of said opening, whereby gathering the first and second discrete areas of the piece of the clothing toward one another using the clothing accessory acts to draw said opposing sides of the opening together to thereby reduce a size of said opening.

16. The combination of claim 15 wherein the opening in the piece of clothing is a front-torso opening that runs longitudinally and centrally at a front side of a wearer's torso in a worn position of said piece of clothing, whereby the gathering of the first and second discrete areas together by the clothing accessory at least partially closes up the front-torso opening of the piece of clothing and tightens a circumferential fit of the piece of clothing around the wearer's torso.

17. A method of creating a gathering effect between two discrete areas on a piece of clothing that are normally spaced apart by a first distance when said piece of clothing is worn in a natural position, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) with first and second ornamental members respectively fastened to first and second ones of said two discrete areas on said piece of clothing, and with first and second flexible elongate members respectively connected to the first and second ornamental members at respective attachment ends of said flexible elongate members, drawing intermediate points on the flexible elongate members together at an intermediate area between the two discrete areas on said piece of clothing, thereby pulling the two ornamental members toward one another across said intermediate area in order to pull the discrete areas of the piece of clothing toward one another into a gathered relationship; and

(b) securing the intermediate points of said flexible elongate elements together at said intermediate area to thereby retain the gathered relationship of the discrete areas on said piece of clothing.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the ornamental members and flexible elongate members are those of the clothing accessory of any one of claims 1 to 16, and step (b) comprises using the adjustment mechanism of said clothing accessory to secure the intermediate points of the flexible elongate elements together.