Set hammered gold on dresses without any frills (7)
I believe the answer is:
austere
'without any frills' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'set hammered gold on dresses' is the wordplay.
'hammered' is an anagram indicator (slang term for drunk).
'gold' becomes 'Au' (Au is the chemical symbol for gold).
'on' becomes 're' ('on' can be mean 'with reference to').
'dresses' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters are contained by or dressed in others).
'au'+'re'='aure'
'set' with letters rearranged gives 'ste'.
'ste' going inside 'aure' is 'AUSTERE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for austere that I've seen before include "Stern, grave" , "Grim -- a US tree (anag)" , "Spartan and abstemious" , "Hard" , "Grim - USA tree (anag)" .)