印度男子花重金打造純金襯衫

印度一名男子花重金打造了一件純金襯衫作爲他新年慶典期間的行頭，並稱購置純金襯衫既可以當作投資也可以得到女士們的關注。據悉，這名男子現年32歲，主要從事放貸業務。這件純金襯衫由1.4萬個22k的金環互相連接而成，造價約爲23萬美元，襯衫上的六枚釦子由施華洛世奇水晶製成，還配有一條純金腰帶。爲了與襯衫搭配，他還定製了一套純金戒指、手環等飾物。這名男子表示，純金襯衫可以當作一項不斷升值的投資項目，同時還能讓他得到女士們的關注。近日，他又出錢爲自己的諾基亞手機定製了一個純金外殼。

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.”