Some people are fancy, others are not. That's true for both men and women. I actually know a lot of guys (not gay) who are very into wearing expensive suits, tuxes, Navy Dress Whites and all that. Others, if they could get away with wearing nothing but a 10 year old pair of never-washed boxers and nothing else would do just that. I know a lot of women who think that putting a skirt and heels is silly, others who would not dream of going outside the house in anything less than full makeup and nice clothes.
I think a lot of it has to do with how, where and who you grew up with and around. Like Hannibal Lecter said in Silence of the Lambs:
And how do we begin to covet, Clarice? Do we seek out things to covet?...We begin by coveting what we see every day.
I think that's way so many CDs at least are into a very retro look, they want the clothes they saw and wanted, but could not have, back in jr.high and high school. If you grew up around the Cotillion set I would be surprised if you didn't want one of those dresses. If that was not your social milieu, then perhaps not. I never saw the point, never did the prom deal (I went to a Grateful Dead concert instead, so kind of the direct opposite), never really liked those kinds of dresses. But I do fancy the LBD cocktail dress, I'm sure because I spent so much time at events where girls did wear those, and wear them well at that.
It's a matter of taste and style to a degree, and a huge degree about what we covet also.
