Armor Customization, stats and appearance separate or tied together?

[Galzus]

Has there been any word on this? I know armor customization entails altering stats slightly and changing how you look, but are those customizations done together, or separately? I know that camos are separate, but what about the actual armor?

Let's say that there's a chestplate customization that reduces shield capacity but increases recharge... does that include a specific appearance change? Or can I pick that recharge rate increase with any visual piece I have unlocked?

Taking Blacklight Retribution as an example, the stats and appearance are tied together: if I want a faster HRV recharge rate, I have to have a certain appearance, which I may or may not like, so I'm either forced to deal with possible ugly armor for stats, or forget about stats if I want to be stylish.

I hope it's separate.