Bags are introduced as a new form of clothing, and wardrobes now allow for changing all clothing items at once. Although it has no impact on their appearance, one of two 'styles' is selected for the cases where a language must use gendered terms. Accordingly, no clothing or other aspects of the player's appearance are locked by gender. In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, players are referred to by gender as little as possible, depending on the language, and are referred to with gender-neutral pronouns in the English version. This also means that tanning is no longer a feature past Animal Crossing: New Leaf. In Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the player can freely select their face style, hairstyle, and skintone, and change it at any time. Face and hair styles are still locked by gender, though the other gender's hairstyles can still be unlocked from Harriet. Gender now primarily determines which dialogue is displayed, as well as the color of the player's Town Pass Card. Shoes and socks are now separate articles of clothing as well, so the player can mix and match styles, or go barefoot. Tops, bottoms, and dresses are now individual categories of clothing - boys can now wear skirts and dresses, and girls can now wear pants and shorts.

The player characters were redesigned to be taller and slimmer in Animal Crossing: New Leaf (a change which remained in all future installments), and the clothing system was overhauled. Also, the Mii Mask can be worn to give a character a Mii's head. The other gender's shoes can be worn after having Kicks shine one's shoes 16 times. In Animal Crossing: City Folk, the player can have their shoes shined by Kicks, which will change their color. Harriet allows the player to get haircuts, changing the hair's style and color, and she will allow hairstyles from the other gender to be selected if one has had all hairstyles of one's gender from her. In Animal Crossing: Wild World, headwear was made into its own category of clothing that can be swapped out or removed, allowing the characters' hair and ears to be seen for the first time. The player can receive a tan by sunbathing during summer. The player's face and default clothing are determined by questions answered upon starting the game. Designs that are worn will always use the same pattern, but vary between a dress for female characters and a shirt for male characters, with the pattern also applying to the hat. The female character's hat is a cone-shaped 'princess cap', while the male character's resembles a spiked Viking helmet. The female and male player models are distinguished through their hats and clothing. In Doubutsu no Mori and its GameCube ports, players are short and stubby with large heads and relatively slim limbs. Generally, the line between male and female players has become less concrete with each new installment, and the characters themselves have become more customizable. Just like the animal villagers, the design of the player characters has changed noticeably across the course of the series. Artwork of a female player from Animal Crossing (left) and New Horizons (right).

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