this post was submitted on 31 May 2026
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Mildly Interesting
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I don't understand why people are arguing about a terrible picture. The colours are blown out. So you could misinterpret them as badly lit white and gold.
Were arguing. This happened about 10 years ago, so keep the quality and variance of computer monitors at the time in mind. That, and the average person doesn't know what color balance/contrast is. Plenty of people don't even realize that the same image can look different on two different monitors.
Perception is an element of intelligence, and a fundamental part of consciousness.
The original dress really was ~~white~~ black and blue. For some reason, I thought it was confirmed otherwise.
Apparently this is the same dress, the colour balance of the one on the left is just that fucked up.
This is the one. People made some color edits to make it more obvious too. That being said I'm still suspicious of anyone who looks at the left picture and can only see black and blue... No way José. I can't convince my brain to see it even when I know it's there.
I can't understand anyone who can look at the left dress and think that it's a dark picture in the shadows.
All the "explanations" basically say the same thing. Those dress shades appear to be white/gold in the context of a dark or dimly lit room.
Which the photo clearly is not. It's so damn bright the entire background is washed out, and light is even spilling over from the background over the dress.
I know the explanation very well but none of it can me make it see black and blue. It simply does not look black and blue to me no matter how much context I have. Believe me, I've watched videos dissecting it back when it went viral. None of the context can rewire my brain here and I'm not alone with this one.
I guess it depends. Are people looking at the left image and going "Yep, that is definitely a dark black and navy blue"? Using a colour picker, the darker areas show up as somewhere around #7a6642, which definitely isn't the black #231e16 we see on the right. Same with the lighter spots: we're seeing something around #8596bb, which again isn't the navy blue of #3a45c3
Quite simply, I cannot make the dress in the left image look like the dress in the right, even if the dress in those images are supposed to be identical.
According to the other comment replying to me, apparently some people see the picture and instinctively think "black and blue" because the background is bright. I can't see it and never will.
Reread the wiki page about it. The dress was black and blue.
Wait. For real? I WAS RIGHT?! I was under the impression that I saw it wrong.
Wikipedia says the original dress was blue/black.