Retirement outfit in eight fragments (7)
I believe the answer is:
nightie
'retirement outfit' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'in eight fragments' is the wordplay.
'fragments' indicates anagramming the letters (the fragments are put back together differently).
'in'+'eight'='ineight'
'ineight' with letters rearranged gives 'NIGHTIE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nightie that I've seen before include "Bedtime attire" , "Loose dress worn in bed" , "Clothing worn in retirement?" , "garment worn in bed" , "Skimpy attire" .)