Any way to "link" a part's Appearance State to an assembly?

I have a part with Appearance State already defined, how do I "link" that appearance to the assembly?

Context: 

I already defined 3 appearance states of a part by assigning colors to various surfaces (for texture map, finished product color, and the default model color).

In the assembly, is there a way to quickly switch between these Appearance States of the part? The appearance state of the assembly seems completely independent of the part's appearance.

I figure it is to be done via layers or representations, but had zero luck.

Thank you.