Frou-frou
frou-frou (froo-froo)
- (noun) Ostentatious ornamentation added to women’s clothing.
- (adjective) The sound of rustling, as of a silk dress. French, onomatopoeia
Now, most people use the term frou frou without giving a second thought to its origin or definition. It sounds like a word someone made up on the spot. Used in describing a man, frou frou has a connotation of femininity or homosexuality. With a woman, it is usually used to describe over-the-top behavior or style. However, neither of these uses sound much like the original definition.
Much like we use the word ‘bark’ to describe the sound a ‘doggy’ makes, frou frou is an imitative word meant to resemble the sound of a woman’s skirt swishing when she dances. Consider the following quote from the website Frou Frou makes you happy1:
“In the Folies Bergères, when the women were dancing, frou frou was meant to be the sound of the swishing skirt,” explains Guy (Sigsworth). “There’s meant to be a poem of Baudelaire’s where he’d taken opium and was tripping out on the skirts swishing and getting delirious, and there’s this old French song called, Frou Frou is the sound that drives men mad.”
And now, the line from the poem written by 19th century French poet, Charles Baudelaire: “Mes étoiles au ciel avaient un doux frou-frou…” – Baudelaire
Which, if the translation services I found are correct so correct me if I’m wrong ’cause I don’t know French, means, ‘My stars in the sky had a soft rustle.’ Again, this is poetry we’re translating here so I’m sure the literal translation leaves something to be desired. Any French speakers may comment with a correction translation.2
Frou Frou is also a musical group comprised of the gifted vocalist, Imogen Heap and songwriter-producer Guy Sigsworth, of Bjork fame.
1www.froufrou.net
I’m french but I’m not a spacialist in poetry and in english translation
. But I would try to answer this line.
“My stars in the sky had a sweet frou-frou” I don’t translate frou-frou for some reasons.
Frou-frou is a french onomatopoeia to describe the sound made by the clothing which rubing (it’s like waf-waf for the dog). The dresses worn by women at this time made this sound. The panties of the french-cancan dancers make also this noise (as the poster you add in this post).
Now, as the women are not used to wear this kind of dress or underpant, we still use (in french) frou-frou for the sound but also for talking about elaborate corrugated clothing (not only panties). And sometimes, but rarely, we can say frou-frou to describe the behavior of a personn who have elaborated manner as the ladies of the beginning of XX century.
Here in this line, it seems to be attached to motherhood, as the frou-frou is attached for him to the sound made by his mother’s dress. The stars give him a quietude feelings
Thanks for the translation! Poetry can indeed be difficult to translate. My French is poor-to-non-existent, but where do you see motherhood in “Mes étoiles au ciel avaient un doux frou-frou…”?
I’m curious if that’s the case, because all the sources I’ve encountered describe the scene as a very sexual one, and that he was getting high not only on opium, but also the women dancing about him.