Also I personally think that's the only reason why devs have released a vanity item class. I'm pretty sure the original idea of vanities to cover your armor if you doesn't like the way it looks and giving you an option to have both, stats and look as well.
I also assume another reason was to prevent that players are starting to complain with the devs that they want new/ alternative gear because they don't like it.
I think you guys should better use this thread for complaining how you want to have the next lvl 50 armor look like