FireFlyBugaloo
Excerpt from your post which I found particularly interesting:
I feel like we took two steps away from this idea around the 60s-80s, when every other male popstar was wearing makeup and women were rocking dungarees, and have since taken a step back toward the idea that there's something "wrong" with people who have a preference for more masculine or feminine ways of dressing.
High heels for men were fairly common in the early 17th century, as were brightly colored clothes, wigs, tight-fitting breeches (leggings), makeup and other adornments. For a multitude of reasons, including enlightenment ideals and the need in France for people to disassociate themselves from the royals for fear of being attacked by Jacobins during the revolution, men's clothing became far more muted and boring in the 18th century. Included in the transformation of male fashion was the strong undertone that men were practical and utilitarian while women, who kept their colours, adornments, wigs and makeup, were frivolous and emotional. Look up "The Great Male Renunciation" (GMR).
There was even a movement - the Men's Dress Reform Party formed after WWI. One of its founders, John Flugel, a psychologist, opined that the GMR was when men "abandoned their claim to be considered beautiful" and "henceforth aimed at being only useful".
Poor men, I had not heard of that before but it rings true. On the whole poorer men could never have quite reached the decorative heights of Louis XIV types but they did look more beautiful in those clothes. Nevertheless, men still dressed differently from women except am I right in thinking Chinese trousers and jackets worn by Chinese peasants were the same, and almost like a uniform?