These 2 designs cause so much controversy within DB community and alienated potential fans for GT immediately, but I got a few theories about them.
Cutting to the chase, Bulla was NEVER intended to be the youngest new generation character within Dragon Ball GT like she is in Dragon Ball manga and Super. That roll was always Pan within GT. Bulla is a teenage girl around 14-16 years old, STRICTLY within Toei's anime continuity.
What most likely happened was that Toei when crafting GT based on whatever they could extrapolate from the End of Z and prior, they mistook the age range of Bulla. They saw 3 characters who were kids but since Bulla was better spoken than Pan and had screentime that obscured her height and design. They mistook her for being the same age as Uub and with an age difference of Bulma and Goku. They likely wanted to end the series of GT for these 2 girls to match the ages of the 2 deuterognists that started the brand.
Why didn't Toriyama ever correct this? Well it's because he was burned out after the Buu Saga and wanted little to no further involvement with the brand beyond obligations. He was more than happy to hand the baton off to Toei while he either rested or moved onto any other creative projects. Remember, he had little to no direct involvement with GT. All he probably said about Bulla is her being a mini-Bulma and her relationship with a couple of characters like being spoiled by Vegeta who grew to become a better father. It would defeat the purpose of both Bulma's and Vegeta's growing maturity to dress their 9-10 year old child like a broadway showgirl, but as a trendy teenage girl that takes after her Mother. This is par for the course
Bulla's fashion is actually based on trends of the time (roughly 1995-1997 GT's pre-production) mostly by the Amuraa style which was popularized by Namie Amuro. Mini skirts with shorts underneath, crop tops, thigh high boots, lots of leather or spandex. Toei's design team likely cherry picked from many of her magazine covers, music videos and concerts.
This is Namie Amuro and some of her fasion choices of the time
Starting to see the resemblance yet?
Though you might've noticed that Bulla's hair is modeled after Bulma
Though I say theory because Toriyama worked on a lot of GT intial designs so maybe he just hadn't finalized on Bulla's age or went along with Toei's planned out concepts/ notes or just forgot. Who knows.
Additional theory. Vegeta is based on a prevalent subculture of out of touch, but strong/stern Japanese fathers. The fashion is supposedly similar to professional Karaoke bar singers who would get off of work and sing together. Blow off steam and some making money. Some of them would get carried away and take it way too seriously. So maybe that is where Bulma alluded to Vegeta's recurring disappearances. He connected to Earth through a music career that he is too embarassed to share with his family, but found pride or satisfaction in it. This actually would be supported for gags such as professional karaoke singers are hired and perform for companies and parties like Capsule Corp might throw or his family members might even attend to potentially stumble on Vegeta's secret double life, but that would provide a musician inspired theme for both Father and Daughter, even if it's merely a shorthand to Vegeta adapting to Earth and not some gymrat Father who earnestly moonlights as a musician
This theory I am not totally convinced of because I can't find this Japanese subculture beyond Amekaji American fashion through a Japanese lens. All I find with Japanese Karaoke is teenagers, anime and idols. Maybe it was common on Tokusatsu series or something?
I mean GT is themed around Self-Discovery and Freedom. So this could be viewed as Vegeta exploring his emotional range and expressing it in a new way similar to how Goku channels his energy through martial arts. The workaholic Vegeta might've needed something totally foreign to do this constructively without baggage, but expressed in a funny way. Toriyama and Toei might've wanted to subvert expectations and besides SSJ4's design would've been unchanged by it's characteristics of bringing a Saiyan into their prime state. So if anything, if Vegeta kept the look more or less, it and SSJ forms would've been even more striking and distinctive from the Gohan or Goten designs.
Additional headcannon is that Vegeta's alternate outfit wasn't his fashion choice, but an outfit Bulla picked out for him within her fashion sense. They both have a lot of leather and makes Vegeta's attempt to win back points with her after shaving his mustache off even funnier as the blow to his pride was so bad, that he just stopped wearing anything his little princess didn't expressly pick out for him moving forward. Vegeta would hypothetically be even more wrapped around her finger if this were the case.
What do you think? Am I way off base here or am I onto something DB fandom? If you guys have anything you want to add or your own theories, please share them with me
