Female wearing article, very pale (5)
I believe the answer is:
ashen
'very pale' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'female wearing article' is the wordplay.
'female' becomes 'she' (I've seen this before**).
'wearing' is an insertion indicator.
'article' becomes 'an' (indefinite article).
'she' inserted within 'an' is 'ASHEN'.
(Other definitions for ashen that I've seen before include "Like bird" , "Pale-faced" , "bleached" , "Livid" , "(Of face) pale with fear" .)