There are two main types of clothing used in Poser 12: conforming clothing and dynamic clothing.

Because conforming clothing is rigged like a figure and includes the same joint parameters, conforming clothing is poseable. It is typically designed for a specific figure and some conforming clothing includes morphs that correspond with the morphs in the figure. But, when it is “attached” (or conformed) to a figure, it automatically bends and poses along with the character that wears the clothing.

Dynamic clothing, on the other hand, is treated as and found in the Props library. You’ll find more information about dynamic clothing in the blog post How to get the most out of Poser's dynamic clothing.

How to automatically add Conforming Clothing

The simplest way of clothing figures is automatic conforming clothing by dragging and dropping the clothing onto a figure.

Conforming clothing can be found in either the Figure library or the Props library. When found in the Figures library (as is typical for older clothing, or conforming clothing created by third-party content creators), conforming clothing will use a CR2 or CRZ extension. When found in the Props library (as is common for Poser 7 and later, and Poser Software’s G2 Figure clothing), conforming clothing will use a PP2 or PPZ extension.

You can drag and drop conforming clothing onto a selected figure and the clothing will automatically inherit the pose of the figure. To automatically conform clothing to your figure, follow these steps:

• Click to select the figure in your scene that you wish to clothe. This makes it the active figure in your scene.
• Locate a conforming clothing item in the desired Figures or Props category. Clothing is often named for the figure that it is designed to fit (for example, Alyson Pants).
• Drag the clothing from the library and drop it onto the figure that you selected in Step 1. If your figure is posed, you should see the clothing conform to the pose of the figure.

ProTip: Some tight-fitting conforming clothing may not completely cover the base figure’s skin, particularly when the figure is animated. You might notice the base figure poking through areas of the conforming clothing. There are two ways to correct this problem. The first method is to hide the body part of the figure that is poking through by setting the body part as invisible. The second method of correction is to use the Morph Brush to raise the clothing over the hole, or lower the body part underneath the clothing.

How to manually add Conforming Clothing

You can use the Figure > Conform To command to manually conform clothing to any figure in your scene. The process is as follows:

• Select the figure you wish to clothe.
• Select a conforming clothing item from the desired Figures or Props category. Clothing is often named for the figure that it is designed to fit (for example, Alyson Pants). If your clothing is in the Figures category, click the Create New Figure button at the bottom of the Library palette. If the item is in the Props category, click the Apply Library Preset button. The clothing appears to the scene in its default position and pose. Alternatively, you can drag and drop from the Library to the Document.
• When added to the scene, conforming clothing appears in the Select Figure menu pull-down menu. Verify that the clothing item that you want to conform is currently selected.
• Choose Figure > Conform To. The "Conform To" dialog allows you to select the character that will wear the clothing. If the clothing is already conformed, it displays the name of the figure that it is conformed to. 
• The dialog box lists all the figures in your scene. Select the figure you wish to conform the clothing to in the dialog that appears. Click OK when finished. The clothing conforms to the figure.
• Apply a pose to the figure, and the conformed clothing should automatically snap to the new position.

If the clothing item that you added does not appear in the Select Figure menu, check inside the Current Actor > Props menu, because you may have added a dynamic clothing item instead. For further information on using Dynamic clothing, see The Cloth Room.

You can also use conforming clothing without a figure. Conforming clothing is treated like any other Poser figure and can be added to the Poser workspace and posed/animated just like any other Poser figure.