It may have passed Cambridge by thus far, but a burlesque renaissance figureheaded by artists such as Immodesty Blaize and Dita Von Tesse has both the catwalks and the chain stores drooling in its glittering, French-knickered thrall.

Near naked, ivory skinned women frolicking in oversized martini glasses at launches and an influx of moulting feathered bras in Topshop have, predictably, raised old demons.

Over-sexualisation of the pre-pubescent is a perennial guilt trip, but some of the hot and bothered are now claiming that referential fashion is in fact sexist and un-ethical by definition. To some, a ravishing spangled bustier in fifties pastels is simply a more frivolous version of the prettily patterned aprons and twin sets that served to chain our grandmothers to the kitchen sink. Is the new burlesque in fact the latest face of a more sinister regression?

These critics should think less about sex and more about sublime style. What makes burlesque alluring is that it is more about what it lasciviously covers up than what it eventually reveals. Compare the crude naughty nurse get-ups in every Ann Summers window with the lusciousgiant fans and pearl encrusted g-strings of modern catwalk burlesque style. The latter provokes beautifully, slyly, fabulously: it sets the female body off at its most devastating advantage, but doesn’t go all the way.

When not bathing in champagne, Von Teese and her tribe are seen sporting immaculately cut 1950s knee length suits, gloves and bijoux hats. The Primark versions of such vintage treasures are the weakest of imitations, and yet surely a wasp waist or lacy stocking top is far more respectful (let alone more flattering) than muffin-top hipsters, a skin tight vest, and a luminous thong? Even a hint of burlesque gives sexuality a heavy whiff of the magic and possibility of the stage.

It would take a very warm night and a whole swimming pool of champagne to make me don Immodesty Blaize’s jeweled smalls for a jaunt down Kings Parade. But women can now choose what they wear without the negative connotations that many retro items had in their original context. And many are to be applauded for choosing the ethos of turning the most mundane fashion into something fantastical… all in a puff of coloured vaudeville smoke.

Isabel Taylor