Leader beginning to wear underskirts and bloomers (8)
I believe the answer is:
cowslips
'underskirts and bloomers' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'leader beginning to wear' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'wear' could be 'slip' (slip is a kind of wear) and 'slip' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'cows' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cowslips that I've seen before include "pretty yellow flowers for unsteady bovine" , "Wild yellow flowers for unsteady bovines" .)