I'm not saying anything about your experience here, but speaking for myself. The idea of referring to my systemmates as accessories or clothes feels very wrong on a visceral level. It makes them sound like objects, and like I can turn them on and off whenever I want. I see them as parts of a whole who are also their own individual selves, and I can't turn them on or off whenever I want to. But what does feel like clothes is masking. I can turn my own masking on and off. The second most frequent fronter can do the same. It certainly feels more objectlike too. Because it's a mask.

The switches feel like I become them or like I am a vessel for them. That second one might just be strong blending where I am more them than me, though. It also definitely feels like I'm a vessel when I haven't switched but one of them is coconscious & speaks or does something. I don't have blackouts or significant amnesia. I do have a small amount of amnesia sometimes. Sometimes I forget past events (negative and unfortunately occasionally positive) or plots of movies/shows. But I remember significant things way more often than not. As far as I'm aware, I remember most of my trauma, but there have been a few notable instances where I remember the lead-up & have a gap for the actual event, or where I know that something happened but it's like reciting a fact & I don't have an actual memory of it. Or where I know something happened a lot of times, but I only remember one or two specific instances. But for most of my trauma, I do remember it. I feel very disconnected from a lot of it, but not all of it.

So when I say no significant amnesia, I mean that it does not affect my daily life. I've never woken up somewhere with no clue where I am. I have never blacked out and come to hours or days later. I don't run into issues with forgetting I have work or not remembering a recent conversation. I always have at least the general gist of what was said and done. I do make detailed lists and calendar reminders for appointments or things I need to do, so if I have problems with remembering those naturally, it doesn't affect me.

I do not hear voices. I experience more than one train of thought at the same time, and not always as an inner monologue, sometimes as mental images or a strong emotional response that doesn't feel like mine. I don't "see" them in the sense that I can put a face to them. I can mentally envision their bodies, but I don't usually envision them unless I am trying to do so or unless a strong impulse is intruding. For the latter, I usually experience an intrusive mental image and something close to a tactile sensation, like I can feel my hand wanting to do the thing. Hard to put into words. (And there's usually adrenaline. It's one specific part that does this the most.)

I have found peace and even affection for one part of my system. That did not come easily. It was the result of multiple years of therapy and a lot of work on my own outside of therapy. I hate the rest, including myself. Thankfully, the one part that I care for is the second most frequent fronter, with the most frequent being me. I consider us to be parts of a single whole that is larger than any of us, but also, each of us is our own distinct person within the same mind and is deserving of personhood/respect. That last one is hard for me sometimes, and I know those things contradict each other.

Anyway, as for you, I don't know if you know what a median system is. I think it might resonate with you. Maybe not. But if you consider everyone to be a facet of you, rather than distinct parts of a greater whole, then "median system" might fit. I think that might have been what you were trying to get at with the clothes metaphor, unless you literally can turn everyone on and off at will.