The pattern and fabric are modern, but to me this dress screams retro retro retro!I'd been browsing pictures of dresses recently, to see how women zipped themselves into their dresses before zippers were common. A style I kept seeing, through the 30s, 40s, and 50s, was a day dress in plain or printed fabric, with buttons all the way down the front. Usually it had short sleeves, but I chose to make mine sleeveless.
The pattern is New Look 6587, which will serve all your button-front dress needs - I had a hard time deciding between this one and the scoop-neck version with the pockets. You don't see pockets much on dresses anymore.
The pattern as written had 4 inches of ease, so I made the next smaller size instead. I also had a heckuva time with the armhole facing, so in the end I trimmed the armhole to the desired depth and covered it with some white bias tape - I think it looks even better that way! I also altered the pattern to slope a bit more at the shoulders.
I think this dress helped me finally get over my fear of buttonholes! :)