Q: What is crossplay?
A: Crossplay is basically the play of words, cosplay + crossdressing = crossplay. Crossplay is usually referred to when someone pretends to be
someone of the opposite gender. A female cosplaying as a male character and a male cosplaying as a female character.

Lately, there has been alot of people who have been crossplaying characters :D everywhere around the world. So to help spread the love and need
for more crossplayers, (and after drinking 2 cans of soda) I bring to you the How To's of crossplaying for females! Ladies, learn how to crossplay
as your favorite anime/video game character and even jrocker without any issues! :D

For the sake of the tutorial, I took several photos on how to properly bind but keep in mind that I am wearing a t-shirt for both tutorials namely because
it is atleast 40 degrees out here and its reeeaaallly cold >.<

warnings & disclaimers
all images used in this tutorial are made by me and if you plan to use these as examples for other sites and forums. Please give credit.
Also, binding HURTS! As a crossplayer you are taking a risk! Binding your chest will result in pain, gasping for air and possible removal of skins (see open shirt tutorial XD) and possible
fainting on conventions!
If it hurts or you cant breathe. TAKE THE BINDING OFF! Or next time dont bind so tightly. As much as the tighter it is, the higher the risk gets for you crushing your boobs and the possibility of you breathing.
Take the time to take it off every once in awhile if you cant breathe, or when it really hurts.
Now you have been warned.

Tutorial #1 How to bind with a closed shirt
keep in mind that when I did this tutorial, I used myself as an example and I wear a B cup and this tutorial should work for anyone bellow a B and
even up to a double D. Though I dont know how well it would work for someone who has heavier assets.
But on with the tutorial!

What you need/what to use:
- ACE bandages. Preferably the wider ones thats alteast 6 inches wide.
-a very tight sports bra or compression shirt/a reallly really really tight tank top.
-waist trimmer/straight corset - the ones meant to make your tummy smaller/tighter or a support belt (back brace) - this can be used for women with larger chests
-If you cant get ACE Bandages, you can use cloth or an obi + pins
-Tape. I personally prefer to use tape since my bandages are old and worn out and are stretched out. But please be kind to yourself and try to get tape that is good for your skin! XD
Or if your planning on using masking tape/duct tape, be sure to wear the compression shirt/sports bra underneath before the tape.

What can you use the closed shirt binding for?
obviously the closed shirt binding is for when you are crossplaying as a character with a closed shirt. You can usually do this evenwith a V-neck shirt. Usually depending on how deep the
V-neck cut is, can depend on what binding to use. Usually if the V-neck cut is too deep to the point you could see the binding. Go ahead and use a different type of binding.

On with the tutorial....

Binding with a closed shirt is reasonable easy. Just wrap the bandages around your chest using either ace bandages or tape. Personally, I prefer to wear the sports bra underneath
plus the compression shirt over it then the bandages over. It gets you flatter than flat flat! XD
The reason I prefer to wear the tank top as well as the sports bra is because the ace bandages I have are all worn out and stretched out and I find a hard time keeping them on without the use of pins.
So if my bandages do end up coming off, I still have the shirt and bra underneath to help keep me flat as I use that opportunity to run to the bathroom to repair the binding. But I usually end up using whats
within my desposal. Which usually ends up as duct tape. To keep my skin intact and unhurt, I put on the bra/shirt on then using a friend, I have them pull the tape tightly and have it wrap around my chest.

Like so:
binding 1
binding 2

Basically, your going for what Motoko Aoyama from Love Hina does. (see the corner shot)

Also, usually by having the bra and shirt together with the tape/bandages, it helps to completely flatten your chest. Now if you are someone smaller than a B cup then there is no need for you to do the bra
and shirt trick. You usualy can go ahead and bind your chest just using tape or the bandages. But to play it safely, if your using the tape, have the tight sports bra on! Save your skin the torture of peeling it off!
Also, if your going ahead and using the tape trick without a bra underneath. Apply the tape right after taking a shower/bath so your skin is clean of any dirt that would keep the tape from sticking.

Now if you were to wear a tight shirt that requires binding, like if your planning to cosplay as Advent Children Cloudor as Leon Kennedy of RE4 no matter what the size of your chest is, the tape/ace bandages will see through the top.
So use the bra or go ahead and bind with the tape or bandages and over it, wear a compression shirt to cover the lines from showing on the tighter top.


Tutorial #2 - How to bind with a open shirt

The open shirt tutorial is basically when you want to crossplay as a character that wears an open polo shirt baring some chest skin or characters whose shirts have a deep V-neck cut. Such as; Himura Kenshin,
Miyavi/Gackt (jrockers)

This I must say is one of the harder ways to binding but it works for pretty much all cup sizes but! I will warn you it will hurt! It will hurt more while your taking it off. So by using this binding, you should be prepared
to the pain of binding and the risk of more pain and possibly skin lost while taking the binding off.

What you need/what to use:
-TAPE - thats all you need. Usually you might want to go ahead and use tape good for your skin, such as Sports Tape.

Note: For the same of the tutorial, I am wearing a t-shirt. Namely because its freakishly cold in America as well as I cant exactly bare any open chest photos XD and I need it to show how the bandages are worn.
Also, for this tutorial, instead of sports tape, I am using masking tape XD So ignore it if its looks different from actual sports tape.

On with the tutorial...

Before putting on the tape, be sure to have taken a shower before applying the tape. This will prevent the tape from not sticking because of the dirt/sweat you have gathered throughout the day. :D

First you take a strip and bind vertical over your chest/nipplege, from the bottom of your breast to the top. This helps hold the tape on as well as its alot easier for you to flatten it. Remember that you are binding a bare chest because you will
be exposing a supposedly flat and bare chest as well! So there is no need to wear a compression shirt or sports bra underneath.
And from where you stopped, you then want to start binding horizontally, so starting from the bottom, take a nice long strip and put the end just before your initial vertical strip. Go around your chest, to your back and end at your shoulder blade.
Make sure the tape sticks to your skin, there are no air pockets; those could lead to blisters and weird shapes XD and pull tight! Continue up making sure to overlap the horizontal pieces.

I usually like to have my sister or a friend with me to have them pulling on the tape so its super tight. Remember to when binding the chest, bind it away from the center of your chest.

Do each side seperately, so both of them are bound up and back, it'll make you flat. You don't wanna go around your whole chest and make a freaky uni-boob. At first it'll look like nothings happening, but about 1/2 of the way through you'll be pretty flat.
When I said you will be binding away from the center of the chest, it means you are not going around your chest like you would for a closed shirt. This tutorial is for open shirts.

Note: Sports tape will not rub or peal off even if your sweating. So there is no need to worry about it coming off while in a con.

Here are some of the reference photos I took:
open binding 1
open binding 2
open binding 3
open binding 4
open binding 5

Notice how I only have one only one side, you have to do the same step to the other side. Leaving the center of your chest completely empty of the tape so you can open up your polo shirt and fool everyone into thinking your a guy!
Also, please take note that I didnt complete the whole binding, normally you would want to pull on the tape ALLL the way to your sides so its completely flat. I did not do that.

To keep your open shirt/polo shirt from flying open and revealing to the world your crazy binding, use double sided sticky tape and tape down the flaps of your shirt to your skin so even if the wind blows, your shirt will magically stay close to your skin! :D
Also, to help blend the tape with your skin, as to even if you manage to show atleast part or all of the binding by accident, it wont be too obvious! I personally like to use foundation and dab it onto the bandages and it blends well enough with my skin so its really
never too obvious im binding :D Also, the amazing thing about sports tape is, it will obsorb the liquid foundation well without it peeling off! Sports tape are made to absord sweat anyway :D

Note: This may be the weirdest of things to do while crossplaying with the open shirt but...I would strongly suggest either tanning or apply foundation onto the exposed chest area to even out the colors of the skin as we normally dont tan our chests XDDD
that way, it wont look too weird nor too obvious you are a girl :D

How to take the tape off from skin:
Since you are binding directly onto your skin, its alot harder and it hurts more to take it off XD
I would never suggest to just pulling it off with one swipe as it would HURT! Now if you have the patience of the gods you can sit still and slowly peel it away. Baby oil helps peel it off faster and eases the pain alittle more.
The other way to do it is to literally sit in the shower and burn your skin with really hot water. The hot water + steam from the shower will melt away the stickyness of the tape to make it alot easier to peel off. Also, I've been told that shampoo helps eat away the stickyness away as well. I guess its all in the chemicals XD
So either way, your feeling pain XD


Have fun crossplaying!~

i remeber when i first crossplay Ed Elric
man! talking about covering those boobs...but its a closed shirt
like Chibi-kun said...fainting on conventions...

its a closed call for me..co'z i didn't crushed them but its really dangerous..
so its better to wear sports bra's
but my friend from japan and crossplayed here.. she's (well) she fainted and i madly panic.. ._.
kaya nxt time.. don't really pushed yourself to crossplay it will hurt yourself and panic ur friends... ^-^v

@CHibi
question...
if im gonna cosplay or crossplay a charc. or a mecha which the height of that charc. is 6 feet or more and my height is only 5'2 or 5'3, what am i going to do to increasing my height w/o tumbling myself due to sobrang kapal ng heels, sprain my ankles o_O or falling on other cosplayers??

I am only 4'8-4'10 and have worn shoes that has made me atleast 5'5+ and I can tell you, it takes ALOT of practice to be wearing those shoes :D and platforms WILL hurt your legs and especially the preassure on your ankles. Try to get some gel soles to keep your feet somewhat comfy.
my best suggestion talaga is to get platforms. Flat platforms not the heeled ones. Heeled ones that Mana from Malice Mizer wears are great and all but I still prefer the platforms that doesnt have heels. And are overly even in height everywhere :D they tend to be more comfy. So i try to get those as much as I could.

Also, if you cant find platform boots theres always several options I could name ;)

people who are often smaller, like cup sizes from A to a smaller B can just get away with a sports bra/tight shirt and an over coat to cover them. Thats why I love the akatsuki cloak :lol: but I've done characters with crazy open shirts or those that wear tighter ones...killed the boobies x_x

as for fainting on cons, my suggestion to the very least it to try to get as much water in you as possible. And try not to do the binding as hard as possible. Sure if you want to be as flat as you want. Take the time to run to the bathroom and take the binding off for air! XDDD faiting in a convention is not fun and I've personally almost came across to doing so but thankfully. I survived by running to the bathroom and stripping myself of the bandages for atleast some air :D it will save you time and your life is well worth it. Also, it doesnt really kill the fun to take a breather or two.

@chibi
cool..nice tutorial!
ngaun k lng nlaman yang crossplay =P
d p ko ngcrossplay
so wla p kng experience jan
pero thanks sa tutorial mo
bka nxt tym n mg crossplay ako
gnyn din gwn ko ^_^

I'm glad it was pretty helpfull. Di nga masyadong sikat ang crossplay dyan sa Pinas pero dito as America maraming gumagawa nun. I for one is a crossplayer :P

Ayos 'to ah :D Hehe ma-try nga yung iba dito. Actually minsan na kong nag-crossplay. Pero di naman ako gaano nahirapan dito kasi di naman kalakihan ang chest ko. Pero gayon pa man, depende rin naman sa costume kung kelangan pang gawin 'to or hindi.

lol, well, I'm just really one of those crazy peoples that goes into extremes. Pag lalake ang crossplay ko. I will bind no matter how much coverage I get in the costume. Its always fun to be mistaken for a guy anyway :lol:

@ Chibi-kun

Hehe oo nga :D Actually sa isang ordinaryong araw, one time, pagkamalan akong lalaki dahil naka-T-shirt lang ako ng malaki. Sabihin ba "Miss ka nga ba?" Lolz :P

I suddenly lost my breath just imagining this! o.O

wow! this is gonna hurt! hehehe! good luck to me!!!! XD

lol, there are sacrifices cosplayers do to achive the impossible. But if you begin to have troubles breathing or just is not comfortable with your torso. Take the binding off because you cause yourself more damage than already needed.

I also suggest laying down when you do your bindings (open shirt or not) as gravity helps pull/flatten the chest to a smaller state which makes binding alot easier.

anak ng tokneneng!!!
androgenous!!!
i'm glad i don't have big ones..
hirap nyan!
i'm close to not needing this binding thing.. ^_^

@ chibi kun: so crossplaying tidus... falls under open binding??? T_T hndi ba nkaka breast cancer ang pag bind ng ganyan?? bka mmaya... nkaka breast cancer xa...

crossplaying as Tidus indeed does fall under open shirt binding, and I doubt it will cause brest cancer, I've talking to someone who has been doing this for years. And as long as you use the proper medical tape, you should be fine unless you are allergic to the tape your using.
I've seen some girls who do Tidus cheat, and just do the closed shirt binding or wear a flesh tone colored shirt underneath. When I was getting ready to do TJ Sasuke and Shuyin, I went ahead and did the open shirt binding trick. Its all a matter of personal preference I guess.

Yey! Sa wakas nakabasa na rin ako ng tutorial about chestbinding for crossplay. Thanks sa guide, Chibi-kun. ^^

Nung ToyCon kasi sobrang experimental lang ginawa ko. Pero nagwork naman. I used the super wide masking tape from Ace Hardware. XD Kahit mahigpit, nakakahinga parin.

Hmmm, san kaya merong compression shirt...

Compression shirts can be bought online but they are alittle pricey, even I havent invested in one yet, I just use a super tight shirt and some tape to make it work.
And I would not suggest the use of masking tape unless you have a shirt underneath, since masking tape is not made to stick to skin >D
it only works wonders if your wearing a tight or compression shirt underneath the tape.

wait... so pag open binding... pagilalagay mo ung tape... wlang suot sa loob? as in itetape mo, wlang suot underneath the tape?? as in sa boobs na??

Basically...yes >D
your not wearing anything XD and the tape goes DIRECTLY onto the boobies. To bare all your smexy manchested ness XDDD

no!!! para mang seseduce ako!!! meron bang any way pa?! ung parang nka ballet suit na... u know ung tight na skin color?! umm, meron bang ganon?! ksi ayaw ko nmang magkakitaan ng chest sa isang convention...

@ chibi kun: may pic ka ba ng isang tidus cosplayer na babae na nka open binding?? u knw, 4 reference....

Waw, Tidus na girl...hmm, gusto ko makakita nun. XD

@ windracer: makakakta ka rin someday... pagnatapos ko na ung costume... haha!!!!

Unfortunately, right now i dont. Sorry XD;; but I've done the similar trick with a TJ Sasuke costume recently for a big convention; Comic Con international.

As for the ballet tu-tu top thing. I forgot what you called them (and I did ballet for 10 years pa naman! :lol: ) but if your more comfortable using that, then feel free to do so! :D You can bind down underneath the shirt and wear the tan skin colored shirt over it.

@ chibi-kun: so... meron ba tlagang skin colored shirt na tight?? ung parang mga pang ballet?? ksi bka mmya pagmagbaballet ka lang don mo xa makukuha... ano yun, magbaballet pa ako pra lang mkakuha ng tight skin colored shirt??........... NOOO!!! IM TOO FAT TO BALLET!!!!

I personally own a tan/skin colored tank top that I use on several occasions for crossdressing if I run out of medical tape to do the open shirt binding so I cheat.

And you dont need to be in ballet to get the leotards (haha! I remember what their called now! >D) You can buy them at department stores or at actual dance stores. They dont ask you if your in ballet or not, and even if they do, you can simply tell them you need it for a costume.

@ chibi-kun: ows? meron plang nabibili sa department store... okie.. tnx dude, 4 d tips... hehe...