THOSE rimless glasses worn by vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin are hot in Malaysia.

Sales of the Kazuo Kawasaki spectacles have shot up there.

"There is definitely a lot of enquiries into the Kawasaki glasses since the story about her eyewear was published," Eyez Optometry owner Kevin Siew told the New Straits Times.

The majority of enquiries, Mr Siew said, came from businesswomen who insist on the "exact model, shape and colour as Palin's".

Ms Palin wears a Kazuo Kawasaki MP-704 in light grey.

"Women want to imitate Palin's image because it feels good to wear something similar to those worn by a powerful person. It gives them satisfaction," Mr Siew said.

The Japanese-made glasses start from around RM600 (about $250).

The glasses are so popular that cheap imitations have started appearing in the market, said New Straits Times.

A random check on retail websites showed a variety of "The Palin" imitations.

One website even named their product "The Governess", and it is available at a quarter of the price of a genuine Kawasaki, reported the newspaper.

Worldwide demand is so great that that the manufacturer, Masunaga Optical Manufacturing Co, based in Fukui, Japan, has stopped producing other Kazuo Kawasaki models to focus on "The Palin".

This article was first published in The New Paper on Oct 15, 2008.

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