LONDON, September 15, 2002 – FrostFrench is the playful brainchild of actress Sadie Frost and her partner Jemima French. Child is very much the operative word here, since Frost coproduced the collection while pregnant with her fourth child—and produced him four days before the show.

And the lighthearted event, staged in an outdoor amphitheater in Regent’s Park, had all the atmosphere of a family picnic organized by groovy mommies, the kind who pick girl-rock music (Stevie Nicks, Carly Simon, Annabella Lwin) and still want to wear sexy, flirty clothes.

This wasn’t a collection touting domestic goddesses or old-time feminist style, though. Empowered to flirt is more FrostFrench’s approach—not surprising considering they started as a cheeky underwear label, a fact the audience was reminded of when some of the models flipped their skirts and wiggled their satin-clad behinds. The label has evolved, of course, and now produces pretty clothes like lace tops and dresses, provocative dungarees cut to define long legs, ’70s-style jeans with topstitched seams, terrycloth hoodies, and plenty of floaty, printed chiffon dresses, secured at the waist with chain belts dangling plastic hearts. The designers, refreshingly, thought of all the stages of a fashionable young woman’s life, from the short shorts of youth to the stylish togs of modern motherhood—including that hot new accessory, the FrostFrench baby sling.

– Sarah Mower