Dress artist’s recalled, reaching India (4)
I believe the answer is:
sari
'dress' is the definition.
(I know that sari is a type of dress)
'artist's recalled reaching india' is the wordplay.
'artist's' becomes 'RA's' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'recalled' says the letters should be written in reverse (to recall can mean to bring something back).
'reaching' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'india' becomes 'i' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'ras' written backwards gives 'sar'.
'sar'+'i'='SARI'
(Other definitions for sari that I've seen before include "Traditional dress of Indian women" , "Eastern garment" , "Indian costume" , "Hindu woman's dress" , "Traditional Indian garment" .)