Independent contract with Sun models (6)
I believe the answer is:
ideals
'models' is the definition.
(ideal is a kind of model)
'independent contract with sun' is the wordplay.
'independent' becomes 'i'.
'contract' becomes 'deal' (I've seen this before**).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'sun' becomes 's'.
'i'+'deal'+'s'='IDEALS'
(Other definitions for ideals that I've seen before include "Models of perfection" , "Moral standards" , "Standards of perfection" , "Bad ladies have high principles" , "Models of excellance" .)