Retired doorman doffing cap, recreating the past (5)
I believe the answer is:
retro
'recreating the past' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'retired doorman doffing cap' is the wordplay.
'retired' is a reversal indicator.
'doorman' becomes 'porter' (synonyms).
'doffing cap' means to remove the first letter (the word's head or 'cap' is removed).
'porter' with its first letter taken off is 'orter'.
'orter' reversed gives 'RETRO'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for retro that I've seen before include "Backward looking" , "Consciously old style" , "Predatory fish" , "recreating the past for effect" , "Imitating a style from the recent past" .)