I think that some site admins (not here, obviously) aren't really as keen on making avatars... as in the art of it. You know, matching colors, layering, making sure items layer in interesting ways. I think many people take a practical approach, while others get as impractical and complicated as possible because it makes things awesome! But I think it's something that takes experience and careful listening to grasp.

It takes someone to really play with all the items to really know how they can be layered in interesting ways. If you just have a few people in charge of all the admin functions in the admin panel and adding items, and they don't really play with their avatars, they might be missing out. You know, shirts go on shirts, pants go on pants, shoes on shoes! But what about long shirts layering under short sleeved shirts and tank tops layering over short sleeved shirts? What about wearing 3 different gloves at once to get that one stripe of yellow in the middle? Sneakers go under pants, but boots go over pants. But if you have wide legged pants, they need to go over everything! Anklet jewelry would look dumb over wide pants, but "magical anklets" are something that you want to be seen no matter what! Then some items that seem simple may need various layers and complicated layer orders just to look right! You can end up with 150 layers before you know it. :)

Coolest items I've ever obtained are usually rare/hard to get items that look really neat. Here, I love my Valentine Hairpin. On Gaia, I love my nightmare/angelic scarves. But I hardly ever take off my winged anklets because it was the first item I quested for and they ended up getting scammed from me (eventually they were returned).

Although on the site I run, my favorite item is always one of the latest things I make and I pimp it out everywhere. At the moment, it's a hairstyle. And yeah, I have a love for two-toned hair! :D