Depending on your story, it might be an advantage to go into detail about clothing that is not unusual. Suppose your character is a soldier (or cop) and he's known for loafing. You go into detail showing the reader he is being careful to get every detail of his uniform exactly right. Let's say it's a dress uniform and he really cares about the solemn occasion he is attending. Now you bring in the top officer. You don't need to describe the uniform over again. Just give a detail or three about this guy's sloppiness and the reader will get the picture. At least he's sober (is he?). You can go on to use verbosity vs. brevity as a silent commentary on each character.
