Lack of clothes may be seen as untidy (6)
I believe the answer is:
nudity
'lack of clothes may' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both states of affairs as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'seen as untidy' is the wordplay.
'untidy' can be anagrammed to 'NUDITY'.
But, I'm not clear how this is indicated.
'be' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nudity that I've seen before include "feature of post-watershed TV?" , "Moving at high speed" , "that would horrify Mrs Grundy" , "State of total undress" , "State of nakedness" .)