Fashion short garment - it's retro but it inspires apathy (7)
I believe the answer is:
boredom
'apathy' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'fashion short garment it's retro' is the wordplay.
'fashion' becomes 'mode' (synonyms).
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'garment' becomes 'robe' (robe is a type of garment).
'it's retro' says the letters should be written backwards (retro is Latin for 'backwards').
'robe' with its last letter taken off is 'rob'.
'mode'+'rob'='moderob'
'moderob' backwards is 'BOREDOM'.
'but it inspires' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for boredom that I've seen before include "no interest" , "Ennui in bedroom" , "Monotony" , "Feeling" , "Tedium, ennui" .)