Writer perhaps is wearing garment but no top (8)
I believe the answer is:
essayist
'writer' is the definition.
(essayist is a kind of writer)
'perhaps is wearing garment but no top' is the wordplay.
'perhaps' becomes 'say' (both can mean 'for example').
'wearing' is an insertion indicator.
'garment' becomes 'vest' (vest is a type of garment or item of clothing).
'but no top' means to remove the first letter (the letter at the top is removed).
'say'+'is'='sayis'
'vest' with its first letter removed is 'est'.
'sayis' going within 'est' is 'ESSAYIST'.
(Other definitions for essayist that I've seen before include "Writer of little prose pieces" , "Lamb, for example" , "Writer such as Addison" , "kind of writer" , "One who writes short pieces on given subject" .)