A belted dress is the one piece that fixes a shape problem without you having to think about it, because the waist is decided for you the second you put it on. I used to avoid them, convinced they'd make me look like I'd been wrapped rather than dressed, but the right one does the opposite. It gives you a middle where there wasn't an obvious one, and that's worth more than most of what's hanging either side of it on the rail.
The limits are real, though. If you're after something to sit in all day at a desk, a tie or buckle digging into your stomach by hour three is not a small thing, and anything with a stiff structured belt will fight you the moment you want to eat a proper lunch. Wrong choice too if you want to move fast, bend, carry things, chase anyone anywhere, the sort of dress that needs constant adjusting isn't built for a day with actual demands in it. Before you buy, check whether the belt is actually sewn into loops or just floating free, because a loose one ends up around your hips by mid afternoon and you'll spend the whole day hoiking it back up. Check what's underneath too, a thin belt over a dress with no shape of its own does nothing, you need some give or gather in the fabric for the cinching to mean anything. Fabric weight matters more here than in most dresses, something floaty will crease at the tie point and show every sit down, where something with a bit of body in it keeps its line.
Over months, the belt is the part that goes first, especially if it's fabric rather than proper leather or a hard buckle, the fold line turns slightly grey and never quite irons out. Wash the dress, not the belt, if you can get away with removing it, and let both air dry rather than tumble, because heat is what kills the shape at the tie. Thrown in a bag overnight it creases exactly where you'd expect, right across the knot, so give it a steam before you wear it again rather than trusting it'll drop out on its own.
It doesn't sit well with anything else fighting for attention at the waist, a big bag strap or a chunky cardigan belted on top just adds bulk where you've already made a decision. Tomorrow morning I'd put mine with flat boots, a plain jacket left open, and nothing else trying to have an opinion about my middle.