Shader image texture chooser/multiplexer node

I often have to use a custom property driving cascading Image Texture selection (mix node logic) in supplying various cloth material selections (e.g, jeans or leather pants) or skin color or hair color in blender.

It can be quite laborious for say, a selection of blond, red, brown, grey or black hair:

Two possible approaches for a new node:

1. allow for a drag/drop input expansion on some new multiplexer node type to allow for "one of N" selection. This can have the benefit of including auto-creation of a custom property and driver logic.

2. add some new form of node to the Image Texture "Image Sequence" property. downside: this might require all images to have a sequence number (e.g. "hair_color_3.png"), creating yet more labor after importing externally sourced characters.

In addition, it would be nice if the driver function could not only be an index number , but perhaps also a string-case (if custom properties would eventually allow for drop-down selection).

You can see my example blend file and approach here .