Ultimate leader of fashion in central Mali (5)
I believe the answer is:
final
'ultimate' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'leader of fashion in central mali' is the wordplay.
'leader of' indicates taking the first letters.
'central' says to take the centre.
The middle of 'mali' is 'al'.
The initial letter of 'fashion' is 'f'.
'f'+'in'+'al'='FINAL'
(Other definitions for final that I've seen before include "Last match in a competition" , "binding" , "Not to be altered" , "Conclusive" , "Concluding" .)