How did this word come to be associated with physical attractiveness? It clearly started out meaning "handy," not "hunky." Lots of ugly men are "handsome" in the proper sense.

One of the mottoes of "The New Red Green Show" (of Canadian origin and seen on Public Television in the U.S. and, I assume, somewhere in the U.K. as well) is: "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."

Apparently this (along with much of the rest of the show, frankly, especially since they dropped the "Harold" character for some reason) doesn't make sense?

In looking it up, I find that it can mean "appropriate" or "fitting", as "a handsome location for the school." I haven't heard it used that way.

This is only a guess, but coming from "hand" the meaning was "dexterous", like the "dexterous ice skater." Perhaps, that meaning then changed to the current one of "attractive?"