Attempt to acquire a sleeveless garment for burlesque (8)
I believe the answer is:
travesty
'burlesque' is the definition.
(I know that travesty is a type of burlesque)
'attempt to acquire a sleeveless garment' is the wordplay.
'attempt' becomes 'try' (synonyms).
'to acquire' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'sleeveless garment' becomes 'vest' (I've seen this in another clue).
'a'+'vest'='avest'
'try' enclosing 'avest' is 'TRAVESTY'.
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for travesty that I've seen before include "Absurd representation" , "pantomime" , "Farcical imitation" , "False or distorted representation of something" , "Grotesque parody" .)