About character assembly

We have this project is progress which needs the player character
to consist of different (changeable) textures applied in different
regions of the players body (mesh) for e.g.

head.jpg
hair.jpg
torso.jpg
legs.jpg
shoes.jpg

What's the best way to approach this situation ?

1. How do we tell the engine to separate the different bodyparts ? (ID ?)

2. And would it be possible to assembly the player character by mounting
from separate body parts, for e.g legs are the main component
which drives the character and the torso and head are mounted
to the leg component ?
If this is situation, can those mounted parts inherit the leg regions
animations ?

And can the mounted objects in general be animated at all ?

Thank You in advance !