A trim, stylish, playful and womanly leader (9)
I believe the answer is:
matriarch
'leader' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'a trim stylish playful and womanly' is the wordplay.
'a trim' means to remove the last letter (I've seen 'trimmed' mean this (the final letter is trimmed off)).
'stylish' becomes 'trim' (trim can mean stylish or smart).
'playful' becomes 'arch' (I've seen this before).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'womanly' becomes 'ma' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'trim' with its last letter taken off is 'tri'.
'tri'+'arch'='triarch'
'triarch' after 'ma' is 'MATRIARCH'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for matriarch that I've seen before include "venerable old lady" , "Female head of a family or tribe" , "Powerful older woman" , "Dominating female" , "Dominant female" .)