We Shall Call It 'Leather'

In the past few days, I have come to discover that corset making is hard. I feel the largest part of my frustration comes from trying to make something professional without the correct materials. One of the pitfalls I suppose of my desire to use as much re-purposed fabric as possible. You will then understand my excitement when a co-worker of mine told me that she was looking for someone to take a great deal of lightly used leather off her hands. There are just so many great things that can be done with leather - I started imagining corsets and greatcoats, and Sir Reginald tells me he is in need of some new armor.
Well, I can honestly say that whatever I ended up with never saw a cow in it's life, or any sort of animal for that matter. I shall hereby call it 'leather' with the understanding that this should not be fooling anyone. That being said, there is a good deal of it and I should still be able to put it to use. My 'leather' is a dark black-brown in color, and slightly beat up in places. I am sure however that with a little bit of either brown or black shoe polish I can hide the blemishes and make it settle on a hue. It appears to be nigh indestructible unless I were to set it on fire, in which case I'm sure it would melt.
Currently I'm thinking of making my 'leather' into the corset style top pictured above, since I feel it would lend itself quite nicely to the various belts, straps, and fasteners involved in that project. I will need to find a variety of buckles and buttons in the same color of metal before I begin since the hardware is going to be it's only real decoration. As projects go, this one is currently living in the thoughts and dreams stage, and I'm not sure when It will move on into completion. Please expect an update pretty much as soon as I start making progress, likely with more sketches and some photographs of the raw materials that I'm working with.
A quick question to my readers. If you are interested in purchasing a piece such as the one above, is the authenticity of the leather important to you? Would you mind buying one made of 'leather' if it was well made and for a reasonable price? Please drop me a line and let me know.

As always, thanks for checking in and lending me your support in my creative endeavors.
~Djinni