Datta Phuge, a bachelor millionaire from Pune, India, is betting that his over-the-top 22-karat gold shirt weighing more than seven pounds and valued at $235,000 is going to be a big hit with the ladies. "I know I am not the best looking man in the world," he told MSN.co.nz, "but surely no woman could fail to be dazzled by this shirt."
The 32-year-old moneylender hired a team of 15 goldsmiths, who worked 16-hour days for two weeks to create and weave the gold thread for the garment.
"After extensive research on the design and the look of the piece, I decided to give it an armor-like appearance," designer Tejpal Ranka told the Pune Mirror.
It's made up of 14,000 gold flower rings that are interwoven with 100,000 gold spangles. The shirt was assembled on a fabric base of imported white velvet, and comes with six Swarovski crystal buttons and a gold belt.
Surrounded by his security team, Phuge — the self-proclaimed "Gold Man of Pimpri" — wore the shirt in public for the first time on New Year's Eve. To add even more bling to his look, the goldsmiths also crafted matching cuffs and rings for each finger. In all, Phuge wore 11 pounds of accessories to go with his shimmering shirt: about 10 gold chains, six bracelets and 25 rings. All the gold on his body added up to about 22 pounds.
The shirt fulfills Phuge's life-long obsession with gold. “People buy cars and go on holidays abroad,” he said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “For me, gold is the ultimate passion. I am looking at it as an investment which will keep appreciating.”
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