I am using MD to sim the clothing, and also the twin tails. The clothing is easy, but the hair is difficult.
The problem is that the geometry that sims well for the hair doesn't look right, and the geometry that looks right doesn't sim well. To get proper anime style mesh hair requires very specific topology. The solution i have arrived at is to let the hair sim in MD, then transfer it to the hair mesh that will be rendered. Deform modifier is not able to handle this job. The solution is to constrain bones to the simmed mesh, and let them drive the real hair mesh. But the number of bones needed to do this is significant.
So I have spent the last few weeks working on a script that automates generating bone chains and constraining them to vertices. I do not know either python or blender's api. Despite having help from a friend who is a coder, this has still been an exercise in frustration. Blender's API is maddening. But its worth it, as this allows me to build the full ~1500 bone rig that I will need in order to not lose quality in the hair in 20 minutes, instead of more hours than I can even estimate. It looks like this (not finished, test version, but you get the idea)
And here's another test from an earlier version showing it driving a strand (in red)
Currently the bones are locked to the simmed mesh, but I'm working on a system so that I will be able to run the sim, choose a frame I like, and then tweak the bones by hand (with simplified controllers) to get the best position. It's all been quite a hassle to get working, but I'll be able to use the script for a lot of things (it's good for far more than hair. There's many times when you want to transfer motion from a simple mesh to a complex and deforms won't cut it.)
Does that answer both questions?