Sea of thieves fashion is in grave danger.

I am a pirate known as "pirate google." This topic hits close to my field for I have been a "fashion monk" in the sea of thieves for a while. Most of my game-play is spent in the cosmetic chest, for the cosmetic system is just that, a whole system. There are three types of gloves and boots, long medium and short, and each meshes with jackets and shirts a different way, and each set has a palette that may be used in other sets, making for genuine "Ahah!" moments where you find two, three, maybe more items that just work and also show everyone why they should respect you. But all of this is in danger.
A new fashion threat is washing over the seas.. The wretched "outfits tab." They take up near every slot while only adding three things, hoods, accessories, and sashes. You can distinguish every last glove length, you can tell the belt, jacket, shirt, and boots. There's a peg leg and hook you cannot take off on most, making pirates that don't look good in those doomed, and an outfit for AF10 that, though I support feminine rights and equality, shouldn't be the end-all for the AF10 players if it's a dress and will always be a dress. Sea Of Thieves fashion could just become choosing a beard, curse, and makeup to go with your outfit, and that's all the choice you have! However, I may have my qualms, but if treated delicately and swiftly, outfits need not to be removed, but merely changed to save the Sea Of Fashion as we know it.
Now, outfits do occasionally add something that can only be done with outfits. For example, jewelry, working asymmetrical boots with pants cough rotten bilge rat cough, hoods, sashes, and a few other things. This is the up. See, what are the downs? You can't customize anything else while wearing them, they don't add much, and it's all the devs are adding. Do most of these cons not sound fixable in some way? My suggestions lie below.
So here's my first idea. Mayhaps when you receive an outfit, you might get a numbed down version of the set at least, without the fancy sashes, just the set. A neat belt, that glove and hook on the AF outfit is very nice and might help add options to the very limited endgame fashion involving ghost. This would allow people in the fashion world to at least try to use these cosmetics instead of the whole "all or nothing" deal the cosmetics imply. You would still have to wear the outfit to get the fancy rings or fancy sashes, unless you consider my second idea.
Sea Of Thieves has done a lot to listen to the community as of the monthly updates. Though they might've misheard "not enough to spend our gold on" as "cosmetics are too cheap," we can still appreciate what we've gotten. Second chances at the coolest sets like bone crusher, banjos, fishing, underwear colors, to fire, expanded ship damage, more player interaction, options for slightly less player interaction, CATS! All things the community has begged since we set out to collect the first chickens and pigs, and we have them. Now, there's a new gleaming opportunity.. Accessories! With the ships of fortune update, you can have your pirate have glasses, but don't you think it's kinda silly that we have to master the merchant alliance and wear a theater concessions outfit just to give your poor old pirate glasses? Weather it ties in with the first suggestion or not, accessories have been a requested feature for ages. Your old pirate could see clearly now the storm has gone, or you could show your bling to others! You could wear a legendary sash under your jacket to add that extra division, you could display your faction pride with a coin purse mini skull, or clipboard, or just live the emo life and decorate yourself with chains! Slowly the sea of thieves has closed the cosmetic gap between the npcs and the players, from curses to the ragtag cosmetics, and this would finally close it. Of course, there will always be things we can't have, like executive admiral with the grand admiral colors, but we can embrace that, unlike the sea of fashion dying on the spot to fail to close the gap.
My third and final idea, perhaps the best mix of the other two, doesn't devalue or eliminate the need for outfits at all, in fact, it strengthens their fashion hold and weight, and all you have to do is have it merely equip the outfit. If you choose an outfit, it could automatically give you the whole set, like it does now, but instead, one crucial detail is changed, you can take off the outfit individual parts, excluding the exclusives like sashes or glasses, and place in other items to match or not to match. Not only would this give the option of two if you just replaced everything but the outfit slot itself, but it gives the best of number one. You can only equip the awesome items from one outfit at a time, forcing you to choose your side (the theme of ships of fortune) and pick to have, say, the gold hoarder gloves and peg leg over the fancy rings or the merchant's glasses, belt and pants for your set. It would add more to fashion than an accessories tab ever could, all the while adding the option to have them. Thus outfits are another fashion choice, rather than a fashion side.
In conclusion, even if none of these are difficult to implement, at least do one thing for the Sea Of Thieves' fashion and it's fate.. Please don't forget you've added a clothing shop for clothes.