Attempt to involve an undergarment -- that's distortion (8)
I believe the answer is:
travesty
'distortion' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'attempt to involve an undergarment' is the wordplay.
'attempt' becomes 'try' (I've seen this before).
'to involve' indicates putting letters inside.
'an' becomes 'a'.
'undergarment' becomes 'vest' (vest is a kind of undergarment).
'a'+'vest'='avest'
'try' placed around 'avest' is 'TRAVESTY'.
'that's' is the link.
(Other definitions for travesty that I've seen before include "Farcical version" , "Terrible distortion of something." , "Grotesque representation" , "Take off" , "Mockery, grotesque imitation" .)