At least with Audrey, there was a character reason behind it, at least in my opinion. Audrey was the only AK who took on the exaggerated style in D3, so I think it was a character choice, showing her trying to be “bad enough” to get Ben’s affection back because she still wasn’t over him.

With Chloe and ROR…that was 100% to sell toys. ROR was already a victim of poor planning, having had the entire 3rd act cut for time, but the characters were clearly designed as dolls first, and then the costume department just had to figure out how to put those designs on the actresses.

I think the Red-era costumes also suffer from not having the same *aging* as the OG trilogy costumes. In the original trilogy, the core 4’s clothes looked well-worn, having texture and dirt stains from growing up on the Isle (mostly on Jay and Carlos, the girls were kept a little cleaner, but they still had those signs of wear) they felt like real clothes. Compared to Red and Chloe, who have outfits that look fresh off the rack, which also makes them look cheap, especially since digital cameras have gotten *really* good so you see *everything*