印度男子花重金打造纯金衬衫

印度一名男子花重金打造了一件纯金衬衫作为他新年庆典期间的行头，并称购置纯金衬衫既可以当作投资也可以得到女士们的关注。据悉，这名男子现年32岁，主要从事放贷业务。这件纯金衬衫由1.4万个22k的金环互相连接而成，造价约为23万美元，衬衫上的六枚扣子由施华洛世奇水晶制成，还配有一条纯金腰带。为了与衬衫搭配，他还定制了一套纯金戒指、手环等饰物。这名男子表示，纯金衬衫可以当作一项不断升值的投资项目，同时还能让他得到女士们的关注。近日，他又出钱为自己的诺基亚手机定制了一个纯金外壳。

India has long had a love affair with gold. But one businessman there is so infatuated with the precious metal, he dropped about $230,000 on solid gold shirt.

A team of 15 goldsmiths toiled for two weeks for money-lender Datta Phuge, 32, who custom ordered the seven-pound top to wear for New Year's festivities, according to the Pune Mirror. The shirt is crafted from 14,000 22-karat gold rings linked together and comes with six Swarovski crystal buttons and a belt also made of gold.

Phuge said he considers the shirt “an investment which will keep appreciating” and make him a hit with the ladies.

“People buy cars and go on holidays abroad,” he told the Mirror. “For me, gold is the ultimate passion. That is the reason I have spent a whopping amount of money on the shirt.”

That kind of thinking isn’t unique in India, where gold represents wealth and financial security in much the way that owning a home does in the United States. HSBC recently predicted that gold prices would jump this year thanks in part to demand from Indian customers like Phuge.

To ring in 2013, Phuge planned to trot out the shirt along with 11 pounds of gold accessories including chains, bracelets and rings, the Mirror reported.

Mr Phuge told Indian newspaper, the Pune Mirror, that the clothing will be “an embellishment to my reputation as the ‘Gold man of Pimpri’.”

"I know I am not the best looking man in the world but surely no woman could fail to be dazzled by this shirt?" he explained.

“The gold shirt has been one of my dreams,” he added.

He just custom ordered a gold case to suitably dress up his Nokia phone as well, it said.

As for any potential thieves or muggers out there, he doesn't seem to be worried.

“I have my own security system in place,” he told the Mirror. “I always move around with bodyguards.”