Councillor in type of work involving old, old fashion item (9)
I believe the answer is:
crinoline
'old fashion item' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'councillor in type of work involving old' is the wordplay.
'councillor in type of' becomes 'crin' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'work' becomes 'line' (line can mean someone's profession or work).
'involving' is an insertion indicator.
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'crin'+'line'='crinline'
'crinline' enclosing 'o' is 'CRINOLINE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for crinoline that I've seen before include "Outstanding skirt" , "Hooped skirt of previous times" , "Material" , "Stiff fabric in Victorian costume" , "garment of yesteryear" .)