That's quite deep characteristics and background you're mentionning there!
Aria was originally designed with inspiration from a comic ( which is also named "Aria", btw ). Except for the skin and hair color, she has a very similar look ( outfit, haircut mainly ), and I could imagine that if the comic was to be animated/filmed someday, she would have a voice similar to the one in RoT. There was no real idea or image to convey, the game was mainly designed to be a love letter to retro games with a little reference to a comic I've been reading for a very long time now.
With the new design I aimed for a more Tyris Flare-oriented visual. The only thing I'm not a fan of in the original character is the haircut, that's why I tried different hairstyles. I really didn't think a second about what you mentionned in your message about hair grabbing, my only goal being making her look good (and sexy) looking, while considering it must be feasable in medium resolution pixel art without being a real problem to animate.