Unless it’s tapered at the waist or contouring the thighs you can wear a lot of female clothing without looking like a crossdresser, you just need to see how it works for your body type
Playing into #1, shop second hand. Almost everyone who has good style does. My style sucked bad before I started buying on Vinted and Sellpy (the former doesn’t let you return clothes, keep that in mind) because as you said the regular market is a boring wasteland for men. Takes more time than regular shopping but you’ll find real gems. With some pieces I’m not entirely sure whether they are male or female but they look good on my build and that’s what matters.
Look into sewing if you need a cool hobby because once you are good at it (which takes time to be fair) you can make whatever you want, however you want. Remember that all clothes you buy are made manually and in a short timeframe to save labour costs. Good beginner machine like the Brother CS10S are 150 euros and if you want industrial grade hems you just need an overlock/serger for 200 to 500 euros. Lidl has one too for 170, that I know two very skilled people have bought so it seems to be fine. Even embroidery machines are pretty affordable now, the Skitch PP1 for example.
Use Pinterest to build a sense for aesthetics, that is interdisciplinary. What that means is once you understand why clothing looks beautiful you also understand why photos look good, why interfaces are appealing and art is intriguing. It all revolves around the same variables: contrast, degree of intricacy and volume. Doesn’t matter whether you look at male or female pieces.
Exact same experience here. Some tips: