What Color is This Dress? It’s Driving the Internet Insane!

Do you see a blue and black or white and gold dress in the image above?

No matter what your answer is, a hefty portion of the Internet disagrees with you. 

#TheDress is blowing up on Twitter right now.

It all started with a post to a tumblr blog and a similar disagreement between a couple. After that, everyone on social media is on the verge of losing their minds over the debate.

https://twitter.com/maureenoco/status/571115393592520706

https://twitter.com/ToLey88/status/571117127098351617

Anyone who disagrees, I'm at 37th and Madison, come fight me. #TheDress pic.twitter.com/8dwglnP672

— Krister Johnson (@KristerJohnson) February 27, 2015

Wow really #TheDress is trending on Twitter also you should see this if u actually don't know what colour it is pic.twitter.com/F6QYfGyXkn

— JAKE FORSYTH (@jakeforsyth17) February 27, 2015

Some people are even seeing it change back and forth between the two.

https://twitter.com/MikeIsaac/status/571122795259813888

In several polls that I have seen, the “white and gold” camp gets about 75% of the votes.

https://twitter.com/patmuldowney/status/571152134122524672

Slate even has a freaking live blog covering the topic.

People are even trying to get the President involved…

No joke, we asked what question would you pose to Obama? You said: what color is #TheDress ? proud of you Portland. pic.twitter.com/hQ4M31TQup

— Reggie Aqui He/Him (@reggieaqui) February 27, 2015

Peoples’ eyes are deceiving them.

Personally, I see blue and black. I also see somewhat of a yellow color cast on the image due to what appears to be tungsten lighting in the store where this was shot.

I color corrected the image using the black and white dress in the background to define the white point and black point for #TheDress. Here is the result:

 

By correcting for the color cast, we get a true image of what the actual dress should look like in person.

Mashable found what appears to be the actual dress for sale and an official product image.

Sorry, Team #WhiteandGold — the dress is #BlackandBlue. And you can buy it for $77. http://t.co/zmyO5nEsOs pic.twitter.com/Dj9WCKpUgB

— Mashable (@mashable) February 27, 2015

So we know that we are seeing a blue and black dress with a yellow color cast due to the lighting at the scene. But why are some people interpreting this as a white and gold dress?

Here’s what Andy Rexford gave as an explanation.

https://twitter.com/andyrexford/status/571118728164872192

Here’s another color illusion to put your brain through.

https://twitter.com/CaptainPandaz/status/571151055708397568

So which colors do you see in the original image of The Dress?