Dress or tunic... is there really a difference?
Well, that's the thing and in practice, the transition is very fluid.
But the basic difference is very simple to explain…
If you can wear the garment without pants and no one exclaims with wide eyes: “Where is the rest of the outfit?!”, it's most likely a dress.
A dress stands alone without additional garments and at most needs leggings or tights in combination. A tunic is often paired with pants, leggings with leg warmers, or long boots.
This means the difference mainly lies in the length. A tunic reaches the hips or mid-thigh, whereas a dress is usually at least knee-length.
And that's where theory and practice, of course, start to diverge. Because one thing is very clear - whether you call the garment in question a "dress" or a "tunic," the main thing is that it suits you and the proportions are right.
For rather small and delicate women, a "tunic" can also be great to wear as a dress. For rather tall women, for example, a straight oversized dress is more likely to be seen as a tunic.
And as always: above all stands artistic freedom, and the naming is up to the designer.