India’s Rich Are Spending Thousands of Dollars on Luxury Face Masks

“Dipak Chokshi says the demand came first.
“The first request came last month when a couple requested masks to match their lehenga and sherwani to be able to sit at the mandap,” Choksi told VICE News.
For the jeweller in Surat, located in the western Indian state of Gujarat, it would be the beginning of a new business model during a pandemic-hit wedding season. “We got our people to create masks with diamond patterns and designs on them. Since then, we’ve been getting more requests for weddings. So now, we created a special range ready to be sold.”
In a country obsessed with gold, Chokshi is hardly a pioneer. Last week, Shankar Kurhade, a businessman in the western city of Pune, appeared on the streets wearing a cup-shaped gold mask made up of nearly 55 gm of the yellow metal. It was custom-made and cost him INR 289,000 (USD 3,834). The mask was drilled with holes for Kurhade to be able to breathe. He still claimed that the mask protected him from the virus.”