The two biggest changes over the many years I have been crossdressing have been the development of high quality self-adhering breast forms and – more recently – the appearance of breast plates.
Breast forms are convenient and easy to wear with the right bra, with the best being similar in density and consistency to a real breast. They are hard to beat, but if you are a cleavage queen may not be for you because they don't work as well with plunge and balconette bras as they do with fuller cups. Sure, there are ways around this, but if you want total freedom to wear whatever sort of bra you want, the most convenient solution is a breast plate.
Surely breast plates are expensive?
Yes, plates are not cheap, but compared to a pair of good quality forms, the margin can be close to zero, and if you wait for an offer to come up, you might even save money.
Breast plates have many advantages, but limitations too, which are inherent in their design and human anatomy.
Types of plate
As a refresher, there are three sorts of plates. The first variety, into which much or all of the Gold Seal range falls, pulls over your head and has the same skin coverage as a turtleneck top with a high neck. The second sort has a hole to push your head through, but then lies with the top around the base of your neck - these fasten at the back with Velcro, hooks, or a band like a bra. They may or may not leave most of the skin of your back free - the RedRose Janina being an example.
The third sort of plate is placed on the chest with flaps that flip over the shoulders, leaving your neck and back exposed. As far as I am aware, only the only entrant in this category is Divine's Athena plate.
The advantages of plates
The biggest advantage of plates, to my mind anyway, is that you can wear any kind of bra you like with one, because the plate supports the forms built into it and stops them coming unstuck at the top – as self-adhering separate forms are so liable to do in low cut bras.
This is massive. So massive that for me it outweighs all the disadvantages of the plate I own.
If a plate matches your skin tone well enough, or you use makeup, then plates solve another problem, which is that even if you use adhesive with separate forms, concealing the edges of the forms where they appear above the neckline of a bra can be tough. With a plate, the top of the built-in form blends into the silicone covering your chest.
When I say 'any bra' you like, I mean exactly that, you can wear a quarter cup if you can find one. Imagine that. Nipple flaunting for all. The plunge bra you couldn't resist but wouldn't support your self-adherent forms adequately is suddenly a viable prospect and as for all those balconettes and demis you could only dream about... if you love bras, a plate is a ticket to nirvana.
The disadvantages of plates
The first issue plates bring is that although you no longer have to deal with concealing the edges of a pair of forms on your chest, a plate has to end somewhere and with currently available products that somewhere will be at either at the top of your neck, or at the base of it.
This is where the thickness of the edge of the plate comes into play. Some have quite thick edges. While the edge is mostly a consideration at the top of the plate, even with an infinitely thin edge, there is the difference between the colour of the plate and your own skin to contend with should you wear a low cut top. If you wear something off the shoulder even more edge will be exposed and since the edges of plates can wrinkle with movement you may need to use glue and more makeup.
So plates can put you in between the heaven of wearing whatever bra you like and the hell of being unable to take advantage of it by wearing clothes to suit, unless you put in a lot of work on concealers.
There are ways around this, if you don't enjoy, have time or the desire to spend an hour on making up. With low neck plates you can try concealment using t-shirts with narrow necks, multi-strand necklaces, or scarves. You can wear chokers with plates that rise higher on the neck. You can grow your hair out and arrange it just so, or wear a wig... or you can just be done with it and buy turtlenecks. If you are on your own, or have a partner who understands, you can just accept the way it is and flaunt your edges like they are tan lines. Your move completely.
What do I do? I'm a cross between an edge flaunter and a tee or turtle neck wearer, but it is worth it to wear the sort of bras I adore.
The second 'but' with plates (I know I am stacking the buts up, but this is to help you make your best judgment and don't forget I love my plate) is they fit a relatively restricted range of chest sizes and don't necessarily do small boobs. Plates have sold well on the drag scene, much of which is about getting noticed, so that's understandable, but be aware of this and buy from a specialist dealer which has staff who communicate to be sure of getting a fit that pleases you.
The third 'but' with plates is that the ones on sale now are all about cleavage and achieve that by using dense silicone to ensure the forms built into the plates hold their shape. This may or may not be an issue for you, but while I will reiterate that while plates allow you to wear any bra you choose, the forms are firmer than real breasts and may be less than totally compliant with bras designed to push boobs tightly together.
There are several makes of breast plates, of which Gold Seal, RedRose and Divine are perhaps the best known. Gold Seal and RedRose make several styles of plate, while Divine make only one right now, but each maker's products have their strengths. I am most familiar with Divine's plates, so if any reader has more personal experience of Gold Seal and RedRose products – especially about fit and practicality – please contribute.
