Queen having clothes for evening (8)
I believe the answer is:
equating
'evening' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'queen having clothes' is the wordplay.
'queen' becomes 'qu' (abbreviation for queen).
'having' becomes 'eating' (eating is a kind of having).
'clothes' indicates putting letters inside (some letters clothe or cover others).
'qu' inserted into 'eating' is 'EQUATING'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for equating that I've seen before include "Regarding as equal" , "Likening" , "Reducing to an average" .)