Preserved a paper dress (6)
I believe the answer is:
caftan
'dress' is the definition.
(I know that caftan is a type of dress)
'preserved a paper' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is located in the answer.
'paper' could be 'ft' (newspaper the FT, Financial Times) and 'ft' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ca' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
(Other definitions for caftan that I've seen before include "Long belted male tunic" , "Long loose-fitting robe" , "Long loose garment" , "Woman's hat" , "Loose tunic" .)