Neurotopia

Geek chic is usually made of the following things:

-geeky functional shoes
-blue jeans
-geeky shirts
-geeky glasses (optional)
-geeky jewelery (also optional)

So let's start from the bottom and work up.

Shoes

A geek shoe is a good shoe. They must be closed-toed and all sides must be covered (to follow lab protocols). It's a shoe that will be with you five years down the road. They don't look grubby, they look broken in. They don't look old, they look loved. And a good science-geek shoe is one that will stand the test of time, wear, and 3M NaOH. Sometimes, I wish I was wearing something with steel toes, but those aren't so good for every day wear.

Me, I'm a Converse Chucks girl. I like them in some fun color like purple, but if I could get them in royal blue with lady bugs on them, believe me, I would. When I can't look down and think "ooooh, I am wearing cute flats today!", I can look down and go "oooh! Ladybugs!"

I can also recommend Sketchers. They may not be the height of fashion, but mine DID survive 3M NaOH with hardly a mark on them. I don't know if I want to know what chemicals they were treated with to allow for that...

Jeans

Duh.

Shirts!

This is the best part. I own many geeky shirts, and I love them all. I used to be a huge fan of thinkgeek, but Sciencewoman has recently turned me on to YellowIbis, and both are full of great shirt ideas, or you can design your own!

Geeky shirts can be broken down into several categories:
Chemicals: as a geeky girl, it is always best ot have at least one chemical tshirt. Mine is of course caffeine, but if you are a hott chick, I personally also recommend capsaicin.

(via YellowIbis)

Physics references: My personal favorite one of these is this (via thinkgeek):

Front:
Back:

Though I'm also a big fan of "resistance is futile (if <1 ohm)". Every time I see it I giggle.

Computer references:

From the somewhat creepy "I'm blogging this" to the classic Linux penguin or 'no, I will not fix your computer', these are always favorites with the comp sci crowd.

Other:
I've been dying for one of these
(via YellowIbis)
for the neuroscience in my soul. Too cute!

Obviously there are many more categories of awesome geeky shirts, these are merely the ones I like best (I also recommend the chocolate molecule and the ethanol molecule).

Geeky glasses:

From the cute wire frames, to the excitingly chunky plastic variety, geeky glasses are a staple of geek chic. I prefer the wire frames, they're lighter, and less likely to slide down your nose when you've been pipetting for ages.

Geeky jewelery:

For the dressed up geek. I was recently introduced to Made with Molecules, a site that specializes in "art in science". More importantly, they offer serotonin and dopamine molecule jewelery. How awesome is that?! They also offer estrogen, endorphins, caffeine, and chocolate necklaces, and there's even a pair of serotonin cufflinks for your handsome male neuroscientist. I should warn you, though, that her interpretations of the chemicals are a little fuzzy. Serotonin has a little note that says "made with happiness". It's not REALLY happiness, it's more a modulation of limbic centers, some people say it's a modulation of repetitive thinking and memory, as well as modulation of a bunch of higher processing...argh...ok, happiness.

I also just found out they have this:

AWESOME. That would be the greatest thing for an ethanol researcher's PhD party. I think I need to go buy one, actually...

Oh wow, I just found out they have geeky holidays cards. Must...buy...

Anyway, it's not all chemicals. I personally wear a trilobite.

So there's my personal guide to happy geeking around the lab. My geeky tshirts gets lots of compliments, however much they may make Dr. Isis squirm. But fear not, Dr. Isis! I'll dress like an adult soon enough. :)