I've been mulling this around in my skull for a while and I think I have a solution to make it work and keep everyone in SL happy.
Appearance Editor would have two modes. Simple and Advanced.
Simple mode would have all the current avatar tweaks and settings. Plus use the standard clothing template.
Advanced Mode would have all the current controls plus extra controls for a new set of clothing templates. The new templates would allow for complete shirt/upper body customization (right/left sleeves, tattoos), skin appearance (fur, scales..), new ear types (animal ears, elf, up to 3 attachment points each), more advanced eye controls, antrhomorph body controls (2, 4, 6, 8 legs), ability to add wings, tails, cloaks/capes, horns, and other fantasy aspects. The ability to create clothing appearance (rolled up sleeves, collars, frayed ends...)
And all easily changable by a single checkbox in the appearance control window.
It would give more flexibility to the avatar appearance/creation system and lead to some really fantastic creations by fashion designers.
