"What I am still not clear on is what the whole animation thing is for in the first place, especially since  I am doing stills."

In order for cloth - in real life - to look natural, with folds and creases and draping to happen, some movement is required, both by the cloth and by the wearer. What the sim does is create that situation for polygon mesh, which is supposed to be acting as cloth in Poser. So, you start your figure at whatever the cloth designer recommends for starting position in frame 1 and place your figure in your final pose in the last frame of the sim.

What is important to understand is that 30 frames = rough one second... if you cannot put your own body into whatever position the last pose is in one second, don't expect your figure to either (and still have clothing look natural). My sims are almost all 60 frames or more, except for standing poses.

Monterey/Mint21.x/Win10 - Blender3.x - PP11.3(cm) - Musescore3.6.2

Wir sind gewohnt, daß die Menschen verhöhnen was sie nicht verstehen
[it is clear that humans have contempt for that which they do not understand] 

Metaphor of Chooks