Selective application of cloth physics, clarification needed

So I’m working on a platformer sort of thing, and I really want to emphasize the grace and style with which the character moves. I’d like to do that by applying cloth physics to the parts of his costume that hang off of him, that way I don’t have to worry about animating the costume to handle every angle the player might move.

But I’ve never done cloth animation before, let alone in Unity. So my question is, I was under the impression that cloth physics had to be attached to the entire mesh, not selectively laid out. If that’s the case, are costume pieces just additional meshes that are parented to the character mesh? And if that’s the case, will hanging sections of cloth still trail behind the character, animated by their attached physics?

Also if anyone knows any really good tutorials for this sort of thing I’d be double grateful if you could point me in their direction.

Check out skinned cloth. That should give you the control you need.