Sarah Palin's eyewear stirs up interest in rimless glasses

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Apparently Sarah Palin's selection as John McCain's running mate is not the only thing the public thinks is out of sight.

Now Palin's peepers are popular, too. Opticians in many parts of the country are having a hard time keeping the Sarah-style specs in stock.

All in favor say "eye" — glasses, that is.

The Alaska governor wears a pair of $375 rimless titanium glasses fashioned by Japanese designer Kazuo Kawasaki. She reportedly bought the signature spectacles from an optician in Chugiak, Alaska.

The glasses are not exactly new.

"In all honesty that style has been around for 10 years," said Jeff Selvin, an optician at Brookside Optical in Overland Park, Kan. "It's been a dead piece of our market. She's revitalized it."

Although Selvin has seen an increased interest in the glasses the last two weeks, he hasn't run out.

"What's real interesting is the people coming in to try them on usually get something else," he said. "It doesn't look as good on them as it does on her."

Cathy Henson, optical manager at Heart of America Eye Care in Johnson County, Kan., said she received 10 to 12 calls about the glasses following Palin's splashy debut at the Republican National Convention.

Then again, she said, the shop also receives a flurry of calls about other styles after celebrities such as Paris Hilton or Johnny Depp turn up in the movies or in a magazine with their stylish specs. The interest in the Palin glasses just shows that Palin is more than a politician. At least for the moment she has become a political celebrity.

But not every local optician is seeing interest in looking like the GOP veep candidate. At the Lenscrafters at Independence Center, Palin-style glasses are not drawing a lot of lookers.

"Personally, I have heard zero requests for them," said Ryan Cansler, lead lab tech.

Huh.

Maybe it's a Joe Biden shop?