While equipped is preserved in EFF files, and the above method would work out wonderfully if not for one (hardcoded) fault. You will be transformed into a mage character, but you will not have any special robes or armour showing, only the default clothing. This happens if your character isn't transformed permanently.
The only way to solve this is to have a spell cast when you equip the robe that changes the animation permanently, but un-equipping the robe will still make your character look like a mage. To address that, equipping armour should revert the character back to his/her normal appearance.
The only trouble is, once you apply this method to one robe/armour, you should do so with every single robe/armour in the entire game, which is quite painstaking (unless a WeiDU guru could help me on that matter).
-Galactygon