Aesthetics

Is there a good site to check out what certain gear looks like on my character? I want to look at Helms and Armor primarily.

forums/useful-diablo-2-links-resources-t3232.html

Check under "Game Changes". There's links to all sorts of appearance resources there.

This is a good graphical resource - it shows all the armor graphics types side by side.

I don't think that anyone has made a simulated 'paper doll' or 'dressing room' for D2R yet though, so that's the best you've got at the moment for judging what might look good/bad on your character.