The image he so admires seems badly tailored (8)
I believe the answer is:
idolater
'the image he so admires' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'badly tailored' is the wordplay.
'badly' is an anagram indicator (letters in the wrong order).
'tailored' is an anagram of 'IDOLATER'.
'seems' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for idolater that I've seen before include "Tailored for image worshipper" , "False worshipper; tailored (anag.)" , "Person who worships graven images" , "Strong admirer" , "One worshipping graven image" .)