【Clothes】 , 【clothing】 , 【dress】 , 【attire】 , 【apparel】 , 【raiment】 are comparable when they denote a person’s garments considered collectively.

【Clothes】 and 【clothing】 are general words which do not necessarily suggest a wearer or personal owner but sometimes a manufacturer or a merchant.

【Dress】 is used with reference only to a wearer’s outer  【clothes】 ; it is not only far less inclusive than 【clothes】 and  【clothing】 but less concrete in its suggestions except when qualified.

【Attire】 usually stresses the appearance or the total impression produced by one’s  【clothes】 ; it is therefore rarely used with reference to one’s own 【clothes】 except in affectation or humorously; when applied to another person’s, it is as a rule qualified.

【Apparel】  (often specifically wearing 【apparel】 ) carries a weaker suggestion of the effect produced and a stronger implication of a collection or assemblage of 【clothes】 than 【attire】 , which otherwise it closely resembles in meaning; therefore one says an article of 【apparel】 (rather than 【attire】 ) and the richness of her 【attire】 (rather than 【apparel】 ).

【Raiment】 is a more or less literary term that is nearly as comprehensive as 【clothes】 , for it includes everything that is worn for decency, comfort, and adornment and therefore suggests reference to undergarments as well as to outer garments.

When the quality or the texture of the 【clothing】 is to be indicated, 【raiment】 is the appropriate word.