The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word G-STRINGS
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
G
-
S
T
R
I
N
G
S
More clues leading to the result G-STRINGS
- Revealing gear, things which are 12
- They’re touched on necks behind showers
- Excessive fiddlers might break these undies
- Finally making ends meet, calls for minimal clothing
- Underwear for musicians?
- Guitarists usually carry these as spare items of underwear
- They might give notes for performers in underwear
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "minimal clothing" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case minimal clothing = g-strings.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.