'Naked' apron gets man banned from Florida farmers market

LAKE MARY, Fla., June 20 (UPI) -- A Florida man's suggestive apron was too much for city officials and has gotten him banned from a farmers market in Lake Mary.

Tom Levine likes to wear an apron made of a transparent material that appears to show a woman's breasts and genitals. (There is a flower covering the crotch.)

When Levine showed up wearing his signature apron to sell books on May 31, he was told to take the "offensive and obscene" garment off. He complied, but was later informed that he was banned from the farmers market.

Levine likes the apron because it gets him a lot of attention and helps him make sales.

According to the displaced vendor, the apron is art. The city says it is obscene and Lake Mary rules state that anyone with obscene material can be removed from the market.

"It's never obscene. This is a hand-painted apron that I purchased at a family-friendly show in Cocoa Village by a couple of women that made them and were selling them. It's a hand-painted piece of art," Levine told Local 6. "I say it's Lake Mary's loss as much as it is mine."