Guided by taste, being messy (7)
I believe the answer is:
tangled
'messy' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'guided by taste' is the wordplay.
'guided' becomes 'led' (similar in meaning).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'taste' becomes 'tang' (tang is a kind of taste).
'led' put after 'tang' is 'TANGLED'.
'being' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tangled that I've seen before include "Twisted into confused mass" , "Entwined" , "Caught" , "Confusedly twisted" , "D [Disney] made" .)