And before that color was too expensive. But one wouldn’t say that gender roles did not exist. Color is nothing but an added expression like lipstick or horsehair wigs.
For some today black is the macho color, for others it’s the artistic color.
My only point is that because of the color switch we can see that certain concepts of gender identity preference, "color", are social constructs that influence society.
That just says that gender norms are malleable, not that they don't exist. Both in the 1800s and today there were strong expectations in terms of "expected" roles for different genders.