Decorate new red ship (5)
I believe the answer is:
dress
'decorate' is the definition.
(dressing is a kind of decorating)
'new red ship' is the wordplay.
'new' indicates anagramming the letters.
'ship' becomes 'ss'.
'red' anagrammed gives 'dre'.
'dre'+'ss'='DRESS'
(Other definitions for dress that I've seen before include "Do some cover work in theatre" , "(Article of) clothing" , "get into gear" , "Gown" , "Apparel" .)