I will try to clarify. Keep the original body parts from the figure (but make them invisible) in the clothing mesh. Zygote do this, except that they usually delete a lot of the faces, leaving an invisible "grip" to match up to the adjacent body part and guide the bending. Look at some of the Poser built-in clothing to see what I mean. There is usually an invisible neck that is the same as the body part, even if the clothing doesn't have one.