Pronounced froo froo. A rustling as of women's skirts. Frilly ornamentation, esp. in women's clothing.
In today's chat we women said it also meant all the pink, fluffy stuff that little girls like. A woman or girl could have a "frou frou" room. The men had never heard the word(s).

quote: The men had never heard the word(s).

ahem. All the men??

Idly researching 'frou-frou' to see if there was anything else to know, I found this tantalizing snippet from a 1763 work by John Ruskin (among others). I have found a number of references to a French tragi-comedy of 1870 called "Frou-Frou", very popular in its day, which was purportedly based on an earlier play by the same name. This bit out of the Ruskin book refers to what may be the earliest "Frou-Frou" of popular theater, and of course she was wearing a silk dress.. The word "froufrouter" has meant to make a rustling sound like silk in French for who knows how long. Perhaps the word is thought to have become "English" in 1870 because the popular French theater work of that day was also used as the basis of an English novel of the day (which this letter-writer of 1870 for one, found inferior.)

I only knew Frou Frou as the title of a song in the great film by Jean Renoir, La Grande illusion.

Thanks, zmj, never saw that one. Listened to a smidge of the song (1897, Henri Chateau), very sweet. Here are a few of the lyrics..

"C'est le frou frou de son jupon
Qui la rend surtout excitante
Lorsque l'homme entend ce frou frou
C'est étonnant tout ce qu'il ose
Soudain il voit la vie en rose"

(It's the frou-frou of her skirt which makes [woman] so exciting.. when man hears that frou-frou, it's amazing what he dares.. suddenly he sees life [through rose-colored glasses])

Yes, missann, Shu had heard the word before. I found this in Word Maven, though there isn't much that's new.