The Dress

[Sarah Valentine]

I think the dress is ugly, my first thought on both photos was that it was the same style in 2 different colors.

[Blue Ginger]

I think the dress is ugly, my first thought on both photos was that it was the same style in 2 different colors.

Yep and no matter if it's white and gold or blue and black it is still and ugly dress.

[Hyena Dandy]

My psychologist saw blue-black, and said she wished it was yellow-white, because it was prettier that way.

I see a lightish blue and a gold/brown.

For eye color: Either blue or green, I get told they're one or the other depending on what I'm wearing.

I don't work with colors though.

[BlaqueKatt]

the camera has overcorrected to the point where I can't imagine how anyone with regular vision could see black. There's not nearly enough saturation to even approach black.

I'm seeing black just fine, imagine that
of course we aren't using the same computer with the same monitor settings.
My original post did go over why people are seeing it differently and the linked article has three different white balance adjustments to highlight what's going on.

[wolfie]

First picture looks like pale blue (pale enough to be an auto colour balance of a white object in a predominantly yellow scene) and gold/bronze. Second is definitely dark blue and black. The way I see it, there's no way those are pictures of the same dress.

As for white appearing a pale blue, how much ultraviolet light is there in the first picture? The reason I ask is that a lot of white fabrics (and detergents) have "brighteners" that give off blue light when hit by ultraviolet (blends with the slight yellowing of aged/dirty fabric to make it look whiter).

What's missing from BOTH pictures? A reference colour (although the second shows the wearer's hand, there's too much variation in human skin tone for that to be viable as a reference). Show me a shot with a Kodak 50% grey card in it and I'll accept that as the true colour of the dress.

[TheHuckster]

Last night, after watching a bunch of photos of the dress without the overexposure, I saw the dress in blue and black for 30 seconds before it went back to white and gold for me. It's really amazing how, apparently out of happenstance, this very specific balance of colors in the photo has this effect on people. I've always been interested in cool illusions, and this one is probably one of the most interesting I've seen.

As someone says, "It is quite a feat to take a photo with such poor lighting and exposure settings that it makes the entire world lose its mind." It's almost like something Douglas Adams would write.

[Andara Bledin]

I can actually get myself seeing the blue and black clearly, now. But I can only do it while looking at the bottom half with the black and white print for reference to prime my brain into stripping the massive yellow the camera dumped all over the image.

If I have the pic where the light in the upper right is flaring, however, then my mind thinks "shadow" and strips away the blue, instead, leaving a white with gold dress behind.

[HYHYBT]

I don't quite get why almost everybody sees the choices as "blue and black" or "white and gold," with "blue and gold" generally not presented as an option. To me, the first picture looks blue and gold, though the blue is the sort you might get by spilling mouthwash or glass cleaner on white fabric.

[TheHuckster]

I don't quite get why almost everybody sees the choices as "blue and black" or "white and gold," with "blue and gold" generally not presented as an option. To me, the first picture looks blue and gold, though the blue is the sort you might get by spilling mouthwash or glass cleaner on white fabric.

I often see it that way, too, as do I think a lot of people. But one would still call a stained white dress a white dress.

When I noticed the faint blue, I thought that was what people were talking about (except for the fact that the gold still looked gold) but was amazed when people were saying they saw a much stronger blue, much like the photo of the real dress. It was to the point I thought half of the Internet was trolling the white-and-gold crowd until my rather stoic and unfunny family member saw it as blue and black.

[fireheart17]

Oh god damnit, not here too!

That was my reaction. About half of my newsfeed on Facebook the other night was "OMG WHY AM I SEEING THIS DRESS AS...." with the other half being "OMG WILL PEOPLE STOP POSTING ABOUT THE STUPID DRESS?!"

And I saw it as blue/black on both occasions. Even after the media actually showed us what colour the goddamn dress is (and the style-it's a freaking bodycon dress AGH), people were still up in arms over it.

[Gravekeeper]

Eye Colour: Dark Green

I see it as a sort of light blue and gold/bronze but it turns black and blue in my peripheral vision which is weird as fark.

[HYHYBT]

But one would still call a stained white dress a white dress.

Yes, but "a stained white dress" and "a dress that's the shade of blue you might get by wetting a white dress with glass cleaner" are two very different things.

[Andara Bledin]

Well, most people focus on the upper portion of the image, and if you check it, there is a distinctly blue tone to the flare of light in the top right, and that's what's causing people's brains to cancel out the blue of the dress.

Meanwhile, down at the bottom left, the massive yellowing of the image becomes obvious when looking at the black and white item behind the dress itself. Unfortunately, because of the way the image is framed at the top, it looks like the dress is in a different light condition than the item in the background, so many people's brain's discount that as being relevant.

From the top, I see a white or pale blue dress with bronze colored trim in a shadowed foreground with heavy backlighting.

From the bottom, I see a medium blue dress with black trim with a huge dose of yellowing.

If I look at the whole image at once, I usually see a light-medium blue dress with dark bronze trim.

Our brains: they fuck with us in all sorts of fascinating ways.

[mjr]

Agreed. Why is this even news?

Two words: Social Media.

It's the same reason that the Kardashians, The Bachelor/ette, and American Idol are news.

[mjr]

I think a better question to ask, instead of "What color is the dress?", is...

"Where's the dress?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0fzeVbicd4