SE thanks for making this event not gender locked

[Iscah]

This year women get a hair pin with 5 flowers themed after the event where as dudes get a hair pin with ...3 flowers and said flowers are completely different compared to the female version. Is this not "essentially gender-locked"? To me I'd consider neither gender locked as I pointed out before but apparently only 1 is to these people.

To a degree, yes. The exact designs can only be worn by the gender of your character. (I haven't seen the male version of it yet, besides what could be seen on the icon picture, but the flowers didn't look that different.)

The flower crown is a more notable difference in design, because it affects how you can use the item and how it can be coordinated into a glamour.

For example, I made this outfit for my male Elezen using the flower crown.

It works because the dyed flowers tone in with the reds and browns of the clothing.

A female character cannot use the same flower crown in an equivalent outfit because the flowers are permanently pink.

Likewise, an outfit that relied on a contrast between pink and blue flowers could only be worn by a female character because that effect cannot be achieved with the male crown.

The fully-dyeable crown is locked to male characters. The contrasting-colour crown is locked to female characters.

But for the corsages, assuming they dye the same (I haven't yet checked), the difference between three flowers and five flowers is unlikely to have the same impact on the overall look of an outfit.