Fashions in time followed by tears (6)
I believe the answer is:
trends
'fashions' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'time followed by tears' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 't'.
'followed by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'tears' becomes 'rends' (rending is a kind of tearing).
't'+'rends'='TRENDS'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for trends that I've seen before include "Prevailing styles, fashions" , "Fashions or tendencies" , "Current movements in styles, tastes etc." , "Fashion directions or continuing tendencies" , "Directions or fashions" .)