Making a Bustier Instead of Buying Gucci’s

Recently, I was invited to a birthday dinner of a dear friend. The event took place at a nice restaurant in downtown Toronto, and the only guidance as to what we were to wear was ‘look hot’. So, with that in mind, I drafted up a custom underwired bustier. The plan was simple enough; the top was to have wires, boning, and started out with a darted cup but blossomed into a 3-piece half cup. The hem? Pattern-matched lace. The straps? Satin elastic, removable. Trimmings? All silk charmeuse. Lace? Pattern-matched. Cups? Opaque-lined. The hardware?24K Gold-plated. It was shaping up to be both my most extravagant and demanding project I’ve made to date, but I didn’t know the half of it. I only had a few days to make it, so I got to work.

The Inspiration

I went to Gucci the week prior and tried on their signature monogrammed bustier and was overall a bit disappointed. It was gorgeous, but the underwires were cheap-feeling and flimsy. To its credit, it was lined in silk, but it was very clear to me that while Gucci could make a nice blazer or dress, lingerie was not their forte — and it showed. The cups fit poorly, the bodice offered no support, the boning casing was too long for the bones, the strapping was also flimsy and cheap (in a way that they felt single-use / disposable) and it was overall just a bit itchy and to me, definitely not worth the $2,500 CAD price tag. I don’t say this very often in stores, because clothes aren’t something I sew much.

But standing there in a borrowed $5,000 jacket, lent kitten heels with bunion toes, and that bustier, I thought “Not only could I make this, I could fucking do it better.”

The bustier I tried on that day was loose inspiration. The bustier I made is similar to it only in the way that I would wear them both to the same place. The piece I created is my own, because I’m not interested in copying somebody else’s already-existing items. I also went to Gucci with genuine interest in the bustier – not to scope it out!

Bustier Technical Details

The draft was easy. I could do that shit in my sleep – the cups I already had, and the bodice I had made from the underwire cradle, and these were all things that I had done before. Cutting was simple, and I even made the bias strips for the armholes and necklines fairly quickly using some bias strip-making tools.

The sewing was going well though it was my first time using a few of the techniques. In fact, things were going so well that I was getting a little smug. What couldn’t I do? I was unstoppable.

Don’t worry though, what happened next shut all that down real quick. It was time to insert the bones, little flat steel rods added to any form-fitting garment in need of a bit more shape and structure. I went for lightweight boning, I didn’t want the bodice to be able to stand up on its own but I wanted a bit more support.

The boning took me an entire week to fit in and several injuries to my limbs. I’m not kidding — those bones are basically the equivalent of shoving butter knives into a casing just a few millimetres wider than it. Somewhere, somehow, that Gucci bustier was laughing. In Italian.

It hurt, but I was determined. It hurt, but I was focused. I wasn’t going to throw away three full days of work because of these things.

And I didn’t! i finished the bodice with no time to spare and wore it out without any of the finishing touches (a few hand stitches, a tag, etc). I added those in later, so now it’s actually a wearable top for what will hopefully be years to come.

The Not Technical

But enough about that — let’s talk about styling. Leaning into the lingerie as outerwear look, I initially paired the bustier with a pair of silk pants with an elastic waistband. These pants look great with heels and it’s fun that it’s ambiguous whether they’re pajamas or not.

However, I wasn’t sure of the vibe of the restaurant — would that be too sultry? Too casual? So, I grabbed my trouser shorts, ivory and drape-y, and matched it with a plisse button down. Topped it off with gold and jewels of varying proportions, my Chanel ballet flats, and my Chanel medium classic flap bag.

Was I underdressed? Absolutely. Did I only notice it at the venue? Yes!

That’s alright, though — that bustier was the one thing keeping my outfit from looking like I came straight off of a beach. And now that I have it, I can’t wait to wear it and pair it with something a bit more -evening’ next time.

What do you think of lingerie as outerwear?