A learning-based clothing animation method and system for highly efficient virtual try-on simulations is provided. Given a garment, the system preprocess a rich database of physically-based dressed character simulations, for multiple body shapes and animations. Then, using a database, the system trains a learning-based model of cloth drape and wrinkles, as a function of body shape and dynamics. A model according to embodiments separates global garment fit, due to body shape, from local garment wrinkles, due to both pose dynamics and body shape. A recurrent neural network is provided to regress garment wrinkles, and the system achieves highly plausible nonlinear effects, in contrast to the blending artifacts suffered by previous methods.