Try the free ones first, Wings3D, anim8tor, blender. Wings is what I learned on, couldn't stand the other 2, but it may be different for you. So, try them all and see if one clicks for you. This will also help you decide if you even like modeling, many don't.

Try all the demos of all the other modelers and see if one of those click for you. Low to mid range that are good are Hexagon, though you need to use work arounds for creating figure morphs as in all figures on the market and the UVMapper can be a bit flakey, Silo, even Shade but I have no idea what is going to happen with shade now with the selling of poser and all. There was going to be an English version 9, but who knows now.

Carrara is a good app but I think it sucks for modeling, you need to buy the pro version to get all the modeling tools and it does not come close to what can be done in Hex or any of the modeling apps out there. It's more an all round app.

The others you mention are very pricy, you can add XSI and Lightwave to that list. But if your thinking Lightwave, you may want to check out Modo. More powerful modeler but has limited animation features. Good news is, there will be a 64 bit version, it's being worked on now.

Best advice, try them all and decide which works best for you and not what anyone else tells you works for them.

To clear things up because it took longer to post than Sam. Yes you can make clothes in Wings and very good ones as a matter of fact. I will post some to show you as soon as I can find the disk they are on