You can spot a good split dress from the other side of a room by how the slit behaves when the person walks. A proper one stays closed until a stride opens it, then settles straight back against the leg. A poor one gapes at the hip the moment you stand still, flashing more than anyone planned, because the split was cut as an afterthought rather than engineered into the seam.
The difference comes down to where the split is finished and what it's finished with. A split that's simply cut and hemmed will curl and go wavy within a few wears, especially in anything with polyester in the mix, because the fabric has no weight to hang straight. Look for a split that's either bound with its own fabric or has a narrow interior facing, a strip of lining sewn behind the opening so it doesn't flap loose when you sit down. Crepe and a heavier viscose both hang well here, they have enough drape to fall closed rather than swing. Satin looks the part on the hanger and is a nightmare in practice, it clings to tights and rides the split open further than you intended, so I'd leave it for one big occasion rather than build a dress you wear often around it. Check the top of the slit too, there should be a bar tack or a few extra stitches reinforcing the point where the seam ends, otherwise that's exactly where it rips the first time you take a long step for a bus. On fit, the split's placement matters more than the dress size. A side split sitting at mid thigh on the model can land anywhere between knee and hip depending on your own leg length, so try sitting down in the changing room, not just standing, because that's when a badly placed split becomes a problem rather than a feature. If you've got nothing like this yet, start with a midi length, side split, in a mid weight jersey or crepe, it's the easiest to wear to actual places and forgives a cheaper fabric more than a floor length version would.
Over months a split dress shows wear first at the top of the slit and along the hem edge, where constant movement works the stitching loose, so a quick check and a few hand stitches there every so often will outlast replacing the whole dress. Hand wash or a cool machine cycle on a delicates bag keeps crepe and viscose from losing their drape, and hang rather than fold so the split falls the way it's meant to.
Tomorrow I'd wear mine with flat boots and a plain roll neck underneath, nothing competing with the leg doing all the work.
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