When did the term handsome stop applying to women, and exclusively to men?

by J2quared
mustaphamondo

Since you're asking for a specific "when," your best answer might come from Google Ngrams. Phrases like she is handsome show highest usage in the 18th century, lower though relatively stable usage in the 19th, and a sharp decline in the first half of the 20th century. Handsome woman, interestingly, seems to slowly increase from around 1750, peak at 1900, and then decrease since.