this post was submitted on 31 May 2026
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Mildly Interesting
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I don't get it. Are they suppose to look similar with the filters applied? I see both dresses underneath the filter, very clearly. On the left is the same black and blue dress with a yellow filter effect, on the right is a yellow and white dress with a very clear blue filter on top.
The point is that a black-and-blue dress, when brightly lit, will look eerily similar to a white-and-gold dress, when it's in shade.
Ok, i just dont see it then.
It's a demonstration of how tinting can make two different colors appear the same. Zoom in and you'll see it
Left vs right:
Holy shit.
Holy shit, what? Both colours displayed are the exact same colour.
I don't see it either. I still see it clearly as black and blue on the left and gold and white on the right, even with the filter they are trying to apply overlaid.
There is nothing to "see". They are, on your screen, identically coloured on the left and right in the "boxed" sections.
Yes, they look different to you. They are not actually different colours. That is the optical illusion.
Yeah, don't worry, you're supposed to be able to see they're different.
The majority of the image being grey is gives your brain the right context required to perceive each half is being tinted, so the perceived white balance isn't shifted around like in the original "the dress" meme.
This is more of a teardown of the "original" illusion than a demonstration.
Looking at the bridge, it becomes clear that even though you can see in the wider context that the dresses are separate colours - when compared directly under skewed/tinted white balance they become indistinguishable.
Meaning that in the original "the dress" meme, how you perceived the dress' colour depended greatly on how you perceived the tint/white balance in the surrounding areas of the photo (or how it was displayed on your device).
Adding a bit more context, the bridge doesn't just show they are indistinguishable, it shows they are the exact same color.
If you put a color picker on each dress, you'll get the exact same RGB value.
I've seen the dress on multiple different types of screens and it has literally always looked blue and black.
Yeah i am with you. I never understood how anyone saw gold.
So, when you say that you never understood how anyone saw gold are you
a) Seeing an extremely washed out image and compensating
or
b) You are literally seeing a solid black and a navy blue i.e. there's basically an insignificant amount of difference to your eye between the black part of the dress and #000000
If it's the former that might explain some of the difference in opinion, if it's the latter then I have no idea how I would manage to interpret it as black.
Sorry, I'm team gold. We're real! I've never seen blue in the original image.
I could get my brain to see it differently by adjusting my phone's brightness and viewing angle, but it wasn't as voluntary as other illusions (like the Ben10 figure one)
I even messed with my phone's blue light level and still no change.
I have a hypothesis that the dress just shows that lots more people have some weird issues with color. Not necessarily outright color blindness but moreso just general processing issues. But what do I know I'm just some asshole with photosensitivity.
The first couple times I saw the dress I saw it as white/gold. But after learning it was black/blue I stared at it and the colors seemed to shift in my brain. Now I can't see the white/gold for the life of me.
You got it backwards, the point is they look different but are actually the same colors
Yes, but the black and blue is actually exactly the same color as the yellow and white. They're both the same color but one looks black/blue while the other looks white/yellow.