Out From Under "Modern Love" Corset — Black Lace over Nude Mesh, Size M
Please read the condition section before buying. This one has a hole in the back panel, and I have measured and photographed it.
Urban Outfitters' own name for this is the Modern Love Corset, from their Out From Under line. It is one of their genuine bestsellers — several thousand reviews on their own site — and it is still sold by Urban Outfitters, so you can look up the original if you want to see how it is meant to look.
Black floral lace laid over a nude-toned stretch mesh, so the lace pattern reads sharply against the skin tone underneath rather than disappearing into it. Scalloped eyelash lace edges the top of each cup.
It is properly built rather than a soft bralette. Underwired, moulded cups, boning down the bodice through stitched channels, and a multi-row hook-and-eye closure the full length of the centre back, so the fit is adjustable through several settings. The straps are narrow and adjustable with sliders. Lined at the front. Cropped, with a pointed hem at the centre front and a curved back.
Labelled M.
Because it fastens on hook-and-eye rows, there is real adjustment in the band — my measurements below are taken fastened on the middle row, so it goes tighter and looser than the figures suggest.
On an underwired garment the underbust measurement matters more than the letter on the label. I have given it below. Please compare it against a bra that fits you, rather than going by M alone.
Taken flat, garment lying on a table, fastened on the middle hook row.
Mesh: 82% nylon, 18% elastane. Lace: 87% nylon, 13% elastane. Lining: 100% nylon. Made in China. Urban Outfitters style number 57537995.
There is a hole in the mesh back panel, and it is the reason this is priced where it is.
It measures approximately 1 cm across and sits on the back panel just below the black elastic top binding, roughly 1 cm to the right of the hook-and-eye column. The mesh has broken through and the edges have frayed slightly. It is a hole rather than a snag — you can see through it. It is the third photograph and I have shot it close up so you can judge the size for yourself.
Two things I want to be straight about.
It sits in an area that takes tension. The top edge of a corset pulls whenever the garment is worn, so this is not a hole in a slack, unstressed spot. I would expect it to open up further with wear rather than stay exactly as it is. I have not attempted a repair, because power mesh under tension puckers badly when it is patched or stitched closed, and a bad repair would look worse than an honest hole.
It is on the back. Whether that matters depends entirely on how you would wear it. Under a jacket or a shirt, nobody will ever see it. Worn as a going-out top with the back on show, it will be visible.
What is not wrong with it:
The elastic binding directly above the hole is intact and secure. The matching panel on the opposite side of the back is undamaged, so this is one isolated failure rather than fabric giving way generally. Both underwires are secure in their casings with no poking through at the ends. The boning is straight and sits properly in every channel. Every hook and eye is present, straight and fastens firmly, and the closure tape is secure. Both strap sliders hold under tension. The eyelash lace at the bust is intact with no pulls or missing loops..
Sold as seen — please study all photographs, which form part of the description, and please buy on the basis of the hole described above.
Hand wash cold, and use a lingerie bag if you machine wash it. The care label does permit a cold machine wash, but this is an underwired, boned garment: a wash drum will bend a wire and crush a bone, and once a wire is kinked it never sits flat again. Hand washing takes three minutes and is the difference between a corset that keeps its shape and one that doesn't.
Reshape it and lay it flat to dry, exactly as the label says. This is the instruction people skip and it matters here more than usual. Hanging a wet boned garment lets the weight of the water drag the panels out of line against the boning, and it dries set that way. Lay it flat, square the cups up with your hands, and leave it.
Do not tumble dry, and do not wring it — squeeze the water out gently and press it between towels.
Non-chlorine bleach only, though on a nude mesh I would not use any. Low iron if you must, avoiding the lace and the cups entirely.
Store it flat or on its side rather than folded across the cups, which creases the moulding.