Consider underwear, perhaps, to advance at court? (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
take silk
'advance at court?' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.
'consider underwear perhaps' is the wordplay.
'consider' becomes 'take' ('take' can be a synonym of 'consider').
'underwear perhaps' becomes 'silk' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'take'+'silk'='TAKE SILK'
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for take silk that I've seen before include "Acquire shiny cloth as barrister does" , "Get legal promotion" .)