Frost French's kinky show

It has not been an easy time for Sadie Frost. But the 36-year-old mother of four clearly thrives on adversity, for the good news is that the Frost French collection was the best yet.

Held at the Royal Horticultural Hall in SW1, guests eschewed the usual bench seating in favour of civilised tables, where champagne cocktails and iced tea were served.

For a start, it was a good idea to have Frost and partner Jemima French's famous friends in the audience, rather than on the catwalk.

At past shows, Kate Moss has pole-danced, Rose Ferguson has held aloft a plastic baby and Frost's sister Holly Davidson has blown kisses at the cameras.

This time, all three watched from the sidelines. The effect was to focus on the clothes rather than on who was wearing them.

And the clothes were much improved on last season. Forties style tea dresses in faded rose prints fastened with delicate buttons down the front, while puffsleeved chiffon blouses all looked perfect for that summer picnic on Primrose Hill.

In the past, the label has been guilty of being too girly, but these were grown-up clothes for grownup women.

True, there were a little too many lace-trimmed camisoles and one too many romper-suits, but perhaps romper-suits are an obsession when you have so many young children - French also has four.

This could also explain the appearance of black rubber armbands and outsize rubber rings. Then again, perhaps inspiration came from an altogether raunchier source - such as Soho.

Kinkier still was a baby-pink rubber raincoat, worn with a pretty floral-sprigged bathing suit by British supermodel Jacquetta Wheeler. The message was clear: mothers have sex lives too.

There was also lingerie aplenty from the duo who design ranges for Debenhams and Liberty. But for once, it played second-fiddle to the clothes.

Her estranged husband Jude Law may have been absent, but Frost's ex-husband, former Spandau Ballet member Gary Kemp, was on hand to show support, as were a host of fashionable north London friends. Judging by the applause, nobody thought it was pants.