Quote - i thought the parenting was just so that the dress moved with vicky etc if you were to move her around the scene.  Does it do anything to the actual dress in the sim?

If you're planning on giving your cloth mesh away then DO parent your mesh to the figure.

According to Poser 6 manual, always save cloth sim objects as smart props. That is, parent them. It also says to parent the objects to the hip as the hip is highest in the human figure heirarchy.

I use Poser cloth sims all the time:D They're my babies!