The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 5 letter word GRASS SKIRT
G
R
A
S
S
S
K
I
R
T
More clues leading to the result GRASS SKIRT
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Tell-tale item of apparel" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case tell-tale item of apparel = grass skirt.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.