A quiz I just saw blatantly informed me that "the first woman to wear pants" was Sandra Bernhardt in the 1870s in Paris. I wonder how many people know that's not true? Leaving aside the issue of non-European women wearing trousers, and focusing on the 19th century in general and Paris in particular -- there were quite a few other women who chose, for whatever reason, to adopt male dress. It was apparently quite chic in some circles, and was often done to allow greater freedom in accessing places that were not normally open to women, presumably because it attracted less attention.
The most famous of these that I know of was the author George Sand, who regularly dressed in male clothing for most of her life after the divorce from her husband in 1830 or thereabouts. (She also smoked a pipe, although I'm not sure that's something to celebrate. )
A slightly less well-known but even more interesting example was Marguerite Bellanger, mistress of Napoleon III. She was granted a permit by the police to wear male dress around 1861, and a couple of years later had calling cards printed with her picture.
Here she is. Not bad, for 1863!
Click for another picture of Marguerite in male dress, and one in regular women's clothing.
The pics and information come from here.