Guide:Vanity

While Terraria has a variety of good-looking armor sets, as with many other sandbox games, there are many players who may wish to customize their appearance with their own personal flair. As vanity is inherently a means of creative expression, this guide will not serve as a compilation of completed outfits. Rather, it will guide you through how Dyes and Social Slots work, and equip you with the knowledge you need to create your own unique look.

Practical use
For those unconcerned with their character's appearance, social slots represent an additional form of storage space for armor and accessories. Extra accessories that you don't wish to equip can be moved into social accessory slots, to be removed later when managing inventory back at your base. As of 1.4, not all accessories can be placed in vanity slots -- only those which actually could change the characters' appearance (this could be easily avoided by swapping accessories from the equipped slot to the vanity slot with another accessory). Questions of whether the item would be hidden by another item are ignored, and it doesn't matter if that equipment slot is marked "hidden".

Note that Informational Accessories such as the Metal Detector will not work when equipped to a social slot; however, they do not need to be placed in an accessory slot at all, as they will work in main inventory. Placing them in a social slot sacrifices their function for appearance.

Right-clicking a piece of equipment in the inventory (or Piggy Bank) will automatically equip it to an applicable slot. This is a handy way to carry and switch between multiple armor sets, but it is not nearly as convenient for accessories. This is because accessories are equipped in descending order from top to bottom, and this order is not reset upon closing the inventory. Instead, if there are two accessories that you often swap with each other, it is recommended to pair them to an accessory slot and its corresponding social slot for quick swapping, by right-clicking the social slot.

The Djinn's Curse is the only functional armor slot item that cannot be equipped from the inventory directly with a right click, as the game considers it a vanity item. Therefore, for those who don't value appearances, it is recommended to equip it to a vanity slot so it can be quickly worn with a right click when its Featherfall effect is desired.

To the right is an example accessory loadout that utilizes social slot swapping. The top three accessory slots can be swapped to trade damage (Avenger Emblem/Celestial Stone/Destroyer Emblem) for survivability (Worm Scarf/Frozen Turtle Shell/Cross Necklace), and the bottom slot allows a quick switch between class-specific accessories. The two empty social accessory slots can be saved for vanity or for accessory storage.

The effect of a Philosopher's Stone is only applied the instant a Healing Potion is drunk; this means that it can be kept in a social slot until healing is needed. If upgraded to a Charm of Myths, the regeneration will only be available when it is equipped.

Hairstyles
Aside from the Hairstyles that can be chosen during character creation, there are a number of unique hairstyles that can only be obtained from the Stylist. Most of the more elegant female hairstyles are purchased from the Stylist, and she also offers a variety of wacky hairstyles for males.

The Stylist can also change your hair color for an additional fee; the only cosmetic character features that cannot be changed are eye color and skin color.

Dyes
Dyes are applied to all patches of color on the affected equipment, which may cause undesired effects on certain pieces like Nurse Pants (on which the skin will be dyed as well). As a rule of thumb, the deeper the colors on a piece of visible equipment, the more strongly it will be affected by dyes. Unsaturated colors like black and silver are often unaffected by basic dyes, and require Bright Dye to undergo a color change.

Compound Dyes can also be used for a color combination containing either black or silver, but their effects on any particular equipment piece can only be determined through trial and error.

Obtaining dyes
Dye materials can usually be obtained from naturally-occurring plants or from specific enemies. Dyes are crafted from materials at a Dye Vat, or received directly from the Dye Trader upon trading in a Strange Plant. See Dyes.

Vanity accessories
Aside from accessories that exist purely for vanity, many functional accessories can also be used to modify a character's appearance. Only one accessory from each of the below categories can be visible at a time.

If multiple accessories from one of these categories are equipped, only the accessory from the lowest slot will be shown.

The is visible as a combination of the Black Belt, Tabi, Shoe Spikes, and Climbing Claws. To completely hide the Master Ninja Gear in a social slot, the feet, waist, and arms must be separately overridden by other accessories.

and do not interfere with other visible accessories.

Specific tips

 * If using the Neptune's Shell or Moon Charm as vanity accessories, it is essentially required to use the same dye for all of your armor slots, as the head, torso, and legs of the werewolf/merfolk are separately affected by dyes.
 * While the Obsidian Rose and Nature's Gift can be used as hairpins, the Jungle Rose and Seashell Hairpin are head slot items that can be used to similar effect.
 * Ice Skates make for an excellent pair of boots, and can be dyed a combination of black/silver and a different color. The Tabi also works as a pure black pair of boots.
 * On female characters, any leg-modifying accessory can help offset the female sprite's skinny legs.
 * Santa Pants can be used as a pair of boots without requiring an accessory slot, but the boots will be white unless using a compound dye with silver (which colors the upper leg gray).
 * The Hand Warmer can be used as a pair of elbow-length gloves that aren't as bulky as the Titan Glove and variants, or dyed Bright Orange to approximate the color of human skin, leaving a white-colored sleeve. The Yoyo Glove can be worn as a pair of black gloves that simply cover the hand.
 * Unlike the Nurse Pants, Mrs. Claus Heels will not display dyes on the leg region. To dye the skirt on Mrs. Claus Heels a different color, combine the desired color with silver to create a compound dye.
 * The Djinn's Curse, Mermaid Tail, Lamia Tail, Silly Sunflower Bottoms, and significantly modify the wearer's leg shape.