Woman returns after clear message (delivered starkly?) (10)

'woman returns' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.

'clear message delivered starkly?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'clear' could be 'strip' ('strip' can be a synonym of 'clear') and 'strip' is present in the answer.
'message' could be 'am' (AM is an example) and 'am' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'after' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?