Deem inappropriate type of skirt to be something rather sweet (8)
I believe the answer is:
demerara
'be something rather sweet' is the definition.
(demerara is brown sugar)
'deem inappropriate type of skirt' is the wordplay.
'inappropriate' indicates anagramming the letters (an improper or inaccurate order for the letters).
'type of skirt' becomes 'rara' (type of 1980's skirt).
'deem' is an anagram of 'deme'.
'deme'+'rara'='DEMERARA'
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for demerara that I've seen before include "That's sweet!" , "sweetener" , "Variety of sugar" , "(Light-brown) sugar" , "Source of sweetness" .)