This is the question I get asked almost more than any other and to be honest I dont know how any first time buyer can figure it out. When you can actually touch them the difference is obvious but how can you tell online? A picture? Mentions of steel boning? Quite frankly you cant tell online and the amount of people buying cheap imitations thinking they are real corsets is mind boggling.
So we will start with basic explanations of what a bustier and corset is.
Corset - There are many different names for corsets depending on their size and shape, overbust, underbust, waspie and cincher to name a few. The purpose of a corset is to give women that ever covetted hourglass figure. To achieve this shape a corset needs to be made of strong, high quality materials and by nature is very heavy considering its size. The boning will be steel, either flat or spiral, and they will be in reinforced channels to prevent them tearing through. There will be several layers of material often with a cotton lining and waist tape. Sometimes corsets have modesty panels which are a piece of cloth which can be pulled across under the lacings to hide the skin. Some corsets have a busk at the front (steel hooks), some have a heavy duty zip and some are a complete piece of material. EVERY corset has lacing. Generally its at the back but can be on the front. This lacing is what helps give you the shape desired. It can be done as tightly or loosely as required and usually gives a waist reduction of up to four inches. Corsets are boutique items, they are hard to make and the price reflects this. Corsets can retail up to $500 and beyond, especially for custom made ones.
Bustiers - You know how you get fashion jewellery? Well a bustier is a fashion corset. You get the look (to a certain extent) without the quality. A bustier is boned with plastic or acrylic BUT can have steel boning! The busk at the front is often steel boning although no where near the same quality you would find in a corset. However this mention of steel is often enough to confuse first time buyers into thinking they are getting a proper corset. My advice is if it seems too good to be true it probably is. Bustiers are also generally only one layer of material, do not have lining or waist tape and mostly dont have modesty panels. Lacing is usually at the back. They are not strong enough to reduce your waist!! If you attempt to tighten a bustier too much it WILL break. The seams are not strong enough to put up with the kind of pressure required and tear out leaving you in a very uncomfortable position. The boning, being only plastic, cant give you the hourglass shape. Essentially a bustier is a piece of lingerie but these days can be worn quite easily as a top. As long as you remember its delicate nature a bustier can be a great cheaper alternative to a corset. Retail pricing can be anywhere from $20-90.
I am very VERY particular about the naming of these items on my page. If it says corset you can guarantee that a corset is exactly what your getting. I no longer sell bustiers but on odd occasion they do pop up so this is still relevant for me.
However your problems arise when you go elsewhere. 99% of shops I have seen on Facebook call a bustier a corset. Nobody knows quite what they are buying because you cant tell from a photo. Almost every bustier is a copy of a corset. The pictures they use to advertise the bustiers are actually the corset they copied it from. It looks steel boned because in the picture it is, but your not actually recieving whats in the picture. Your getting the fashion corset instead of the real corset. There is nothing wrong with bustiers but please be sure that your getting what you want because you get what you pay for.
Michal xxx
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