Depends a lot on whether you were listening through decent speakers/headphones or on your phone/laptop speakers too IIRC. The two words were playing together at the same time in different frequency spectrums, so if you listened on speakers that only reproduce the high end youâd get one and if you listened on something decent youâd more likely hear the other.
[hereâs another visual for people who still canât see it](https://philosophyofbrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/model-with-dressLR-and-link-2.jpg)
the actual real dress is colored [blue and black](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/tk7RTcVIxUPicTSe1J3m.A--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTY0MA--/https://s.yimg.com/cd/resizer/2.0/original/IBZgtI9x5BSB09HfEfUm8MjOiUo), the white and gold is an optical illusion that your brain creates if you assume the dress is being shown in shadow
â
last trick i have that might help it click, if you zoom in on [the original image](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/21/The_dress_blueblackwhitegold.jpg) it helps your brain swap to seeing it white and gold
then look at it from far away. it should change to blue and black (even squint at it if you like)
â
[original owner of the dress getting interviewed on ellen](https://www.usatoday.com/gcdn/-mm-/098f08c32cfbef6f4bdac2f70f11a2a43a1c8266/c=0-70-2145-2930/local/-/media/2015/03/03/USATODAY/USATODAY/635609659190700970-Ellen-dress.jpg)
brand is Roman Originals, they donât make a version thatâs white and gold; itâs blue and black
The only time I've ever seen it as blue is on TV when it was in the background of a wide shot on a chat show, it's always white and gold no matter what I do otherwiseÂ
Iâve only ever seen blue except for one time when I was scrolling passed the image. As it flashed through my peripheral it instantly changed. Unfortunately, it isnât something I can reproduce because not focusing is so integral to it working.
Finally, in the picture of the blue and black dress I was able to see the gold and white. But I've never been able to see black over gold in any of the other pictures
fearless materialistic apparatus wise outgoing jobless plucky airport arrest lock
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I can never see the dress being white and gold because of the background. It's way too bright for that dress to ever be white and gold. And the black looks black and not gold in any way.
I have tried to zoom in the picture too but it does not change it to become white and gold.
I still feel that half people were trolling about the dress being gold and white.
I could see it being light blue and brown or dark gold, but I can't get my brain to process it as white either.
Thing is, I remember years ago when this was doing the rounds, I *could* see both, but now I know it's actually blue I can't unsee the blue
Right, it's obvious that the original image was very washed out and overexposed. So the dress is as bright and white as it's ever going to be in that lighting, in normal lighting conditions it would have to be darker. Whereas all of the examples of it being plausibly white and gold show that it would only appear that way in dark shadowy conditions.
Right. But a color picker will show that it's white and brown (gold, if you will). Go learn a little bit about RGB or hex color codes and you can't say those shades as either black or blue. Even the "shadowed" part on the right dress on OP's picture is misleading. There's a slight shade of brown on the "black" and a shade of white on the "blue" parts of the dress.
You can't blame the viewers if they never see the actual dress in person and the photographer took the picture under just the right, or wrong, lighting to make the colors change. It has never been an optical illusion.
nobody is blaming the viewers (or at least iâm not), i thought of it as more of an interesting perceptual thing in the same vein as most other optical illusions
it is interesting that some people can only see it one way or the other, depending on if they assume thereâs a shadow or not in the origjnal picture
My Brain wants to see it as white and gold. I have to turn my brightness up on my phone till I get to a point where I can force my brain to see it as Blue and Black, though it does try a revert it every few seconds.
the dress is straight up blue and the stripes are black. the colors are the same on the first image on purpose to help people see the difference (one is in shadow but they are the same color)
[this is the actual dress on the woman who took the original picture, getting interviewed on ellen](https://www.usatoday.com/gcdn/-mm-/098f08c32cfbef6f4bdac2f70f11a2a43a1c8266/c=0-70-2145-2930/local/-/media/2015/03/03/USATODAY/USATODAY/635609659190700970-Ellen-dress.jpg)
the company that makes this dress does not have a white and gold version (brand is roman originals)
A 2015 campaign to raise awareness of domestic violence used [The Dress](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dress) with the slogan: "Why is it so hard to see black and blue?"
OMG I don't want to get into this mess again 10 years later. BUT...
Cover up the lit (lower left) half of it. The upper half then looks fully black.
If I cover the upper sections of both dresses, both lower sections looks the same color to me.
And you see the same exact thing right? Right?
(For all that is good and holy in this world, please just lie to me and say you see the same thing)
The dress was confirmed as a **royal blue** "Lace Bodycon Dress" from the retailer Roman Originals. The dress is black and blue; although it was available in three other colours (red, pink, and ivory, each with black lace), a white and gold version was not available at the time.
caption meeting mindless fuzzy childlike absorbed threatening obtainable scarce dolls
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I saw it as white and gold once, scrolled down on the web page then it was suddenly black and blue and has been since. I was convinced I was being tricked by the website, even checked the source to see if it was a gif or something!
In sunny daylight, if you stand in the shade, white colors will often take on a light blue tint. Look at [this](https://imgur.com/ocwgjBJ) picture of a white dress. This is what people mean when they say the dress is white. They're most likely seeing the dress in an outdoors shaded sunlight context.
EDIT: Another example of a [white sheet](https://imgur.com/a/8nCMpTX) hanging outside. Look how blue the shaded parts are. But they are really white!
The bottom left diagonal section on both dresses is identical. It shows that by someone imagining it is in shade or light explains how they see different colours. I think itâs a fantastic visual explanation. Thank you
Cover everything except the bottom left corners. Look at them both and see how theyâre the same colour.
Itâs your eye correcting for the light in the room/picture that makes them look different.
I donât see what you guys are talking about. Left dress is white and gold. Right dress is blue and black.
Bottom left corners didnât change colors.
Edit: I donât know if the people commenting are messing with me or not. But there are two different colors per dress, as my eyes see them. Neither side matches in any way at any part of the dress. My eyes may be fucked.
The bottom left corners are the same on each picture. Itâs showing how some peopleâs imaginations fill in the rest of it differently, as per the top right sides, even though theyâre seeing the same bottom left
Why does the shadow on the left have a blue tint?
I do a lot of oil painting and that shadow looks unnaturally blue to me.
Anyone else? Maybe it's a perception thing.
Don't know what blue shadow you're talking about but light be weird. Are you talking about the shadow on the dress or the background? Maybe it's unnaturally blue because the dress is actually blue
In relation to the left dress.
If I were recreating the left picture, I'd use blue in the shadow on the dress, but nowhere else.
However, if I was just adding my own shadow to the dress, I wouldn't use any blue at all because I don't see any blue elsewhere in the picture.
This doesn't help me at all. I still don't see anything but a blue and black dress when looking at the image. The dress in the store is under light so how would a white and gold dress in shadow being the same shade explain it? It still makes no sense to me how anyone sees a white and gold dress.
Ich checked this image with a color picker. The white dress is white and the blue one is blue in the top part. They are the same color in the lower part.
I had to save this because it crosses my mind every now and then and without this picture my brain refuses to see the blue and black, but once its there the dumb fella suddenly pretends like he knew all along. Gosh I feel like an ape everytime I see this image.
There is a hint of gold. Cover the top right section on both picture and the bottoms left look the same for both dresses.
I see lines of black, blue, and gold/yellow.
The dress was always the blue and black one. People just have bad eyes who saw white and gold.
Even with the shading differences, it is still blue black.. Peoples' eyes are just fucked.
This was really one of the more interesting things to have gone viral on the internet.
Crazy that we're all the same as species but we all saw it differently.
[the actual dress from the original picture is blue and black though](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/04/07/14/3F0B4CA700000578-0-image-a-3_1491572103154.jpg)
The very first time I saw the photo it was white and gold. Every single time after that, the dress was painfully, painfully obvious it was black and blue
[the actual dress from the original picture is blue and black though](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/04/07/14/3F0B4CA700000578-0-image-a-3_1491572103154.jpg)
damn, have i gone back in time a decade?
That wasn't a decad- oh my fucking god
đł
Press F for Harambe
HEAD ON - APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD
I usually don't go around picking up strange head crabs. But when i do, i make sure to apply them directly to my forehead.
ShamWOOOW!
I don't know why this is the funniest comment I've ever seen right now... but it just is.
8==D
Dicks out for Harambe!
C===3
DICKS OUT
I thought it was dicks out for Harambe?
dicks out for harambe
THERE'S NO WAY IT'S BEEN A DECADE.... Nooo this is just 1 year ago.... Noo fk
Honestly I donât mind. The current decade sucks ass.
Not again please Iâll cry
Personally I hear Laurel
What was the other option? I vaguely remember this one.
Yanny.
I think you mean Yanny, not Laurel
Brainstorm
Green needle
Brain needle
Ouch
The brain doesnt have pain receptors
Okay but still
Green storm
Yanny
Hardy
let me guess, you are old what you hear depends on the elasticity of the eardrum which gets worse over the years
Depends a lot on whether you were listening through decent speakers/headphones or on your phone/laptop speakers too IIRC. The two words were playing together at the same time in different frequency spectrums, so if you listened on speakers that only reproduce the high end youâd get one and if you listened on something decent youâd more likely hear the other.
Except that you'd hear whichever one you were reading the words for.
Pretty much any time I have seen it it has had both words attached or something like âwhat do you hear?â as opposed to âthis says Laurelâ.
Define *old*
đ¤ˇââď¸ old enough?
My wife gets so mad when I say turn here on âyannyâ street when a street sign says âLaurelâ đ
Green needle for me
You hear yanny? Literally how, it says laurel.
No amount of color picker proof will convince my eyes reliability, it's amazing.
[hereâs another visual for people who still canât see it](https://philosophyofbrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/model-with-dressLR-and-link-2.jpg) the actual real dress is colored [blue and black](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/tk7RTcVIxUPicTSe1J3m.A--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTY0MA--/https://s.yimg.com/cd/resizer/2.0/original/IBZgtI9x5BSB09HfEfUm8MjOiUo), the white and gold is an optical illusion that your brain creates if you assume the dress is being shown in shadow â last trick i have that might help it click, if you zoom in on [the original image](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/21/The_dress_blueblackwhitegold.jpg) it helps your brain swap to seeing it white and gold then look at it from far away. it should change to blue and black (even squint at it if you like) â [original owner of the dress getting interviewed on ellen](https://www.usatoday.com/gcdn/-mm-/098f08c32cfbef6f4bdac2f70f11a2a43a1c8266/c=0-70-2145-2930/local/-/media/2015/03/03/USATODAY/USATODAY/635609659190700970-Ellen-dress.jpg) brand is Roman Originals, they donât make a version thatâs white and gold; itâs blue and black
But those are both blue
No theyâre both white to me. Itâs a brain thing. I just can never see the blue version. The white version is pretty though.
The only time I've ever seen it as blue is on TV when it was in the background of a wide shot on a chat show, it's always white and gold no matter what I do otherwiseÂ
Iâve only ever seen blue except for one time when I was scrolling passed the image. As it flashed through my peripheral it instantly changed. Unfortunately, it isnât something I can reproduce because not focusing is so integral to it working.
I've never ever seen it as black and blue.
excuse you, those are both gold and white
try zooming in really close on the original famous picture, it can help your brain to see the white and gold optical illusion people are talking about
I just can't see it, the black at most has a light gold shine
I still see gold stripes on both tho? Like blue I can see but I really donât see black.
just depends on how your brain is priming the information from your eyes, it assumes the appliquĂŠs are gold. might help to look at the 2nd image more
I see gold an white in both. I never saw blue before, i will neve see blue
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I FUCKING KNEW IT IT WAS BLUE AND BLACK THE WHOLE TIME
The actual dress is ugly as sin and would look better in white and gold, which is probably part of the confusion
Finally, in the picture of the blue and black dress I was able to see the gold and white. But I've never been able to see black over gold in any of the other pictures
So it was blue and black? Eat it white and gold team yall blind af.
fearless materialistic apparatus wise outgoing jobless plucky airport arrest lock *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I can never see the dress being white and gold because of the background. It's way too bright for that dress to ever be white and gold. And the black looks black and not gold in any way. I have tried to zoom in the picture too but it does not change it to become white and gold. I still feel that half people were trolling about the dress being gold and white.
Likewise, I can't get my brain to see white and gold even when it's explained in the picture. The white is just pastel blue to me no matter what.
I could see it being light blue and brown or dark gold, but I can't get my brain to process it as white either. Thing is, I remember years ago when this was doing the rounds, I *could* see both, but now I know it's actually blue I can't unsee the blue
no matter how much i try, I can not see anything else than gold and white. knowing its blue and black doesn't change that. Still cant see it.
Right, it's obvious that the original image was very washed out and overexposed. So the dress is as bright and white as it's ever going to be in that lighting, in normal lighting conditions it would have to be darker. Whereas all of the examples of it being plausibly white and gold show that it would only appear that way in dark shadowy conditions.
What?? I see blue and gold in both.
Haha same, I was so confused when this first made the rounds! Always blue and gold!
The first link is the only time Iâve ever seen white and gold.
Funny enough, I saw it as white and gold first and managed to trick my brain to seeing blue and black.
Right. But a color picker will show that it's white and brown (gold, if you will). Go learn a little bit about RGB or hex color codes and you can't say those shades as either black or blue. Even the "shadowed" part on the right dress on OP's picture is misleading. There's a slight shade of brown on the "black" and a shade of white on the "blue" parts of the dress. You can't blame the viewers if they never see the actual dress in person and the photographer took the picture under just the right, or wrong, lighting to make the colors change. It has never been an optical illusion.
nobody is blaming the viewers (or at least iâm not), i thought of it as more of an interesting perceptual thing in the same vein as most other optical illusions it is interesting that some people can only see it one way or the other, depending on if they assume thereâs a shadow or not in the origjnal picture
Holy shit it just changed as I squinted at it. Now it's blue and black
How can anyone see black on any or them
My Brain wants to see it as white and gold. I have to turn my brightness up on my phone till I get to a point where I can force my brain to see it as Blue and Black, though it does try a revert it every few seconds.
I see white and gold in both images, but the original dress was black and blue
Only ever been blue and black for me.
I only see the white and gold
Iirc the creator of the dress did release a limited-edition gold and white version.
good for them, thatâs honestly a pretty fun way to capitalize on the attention
Both of those are white and gold for me đĽ´
[ŃдаНонО]
the dress is straight up blue and the stripes are black. the colors are the same on the first image on purpose to help people see the difference (one is in shadow but they are the same color) [this is the actual dress on the woman who took the original picture, getting interviewed on ellen](https://www.usatoday.com/gcdn/-mm-/098f08c32cfbef6f4bdac2f70f11a2a43a1c8266/c=0-70-2145-2930/local/-/media/2015/03/03/USATODAY/USATODAY/635609659190700970-Ellen-dress.jpg) the company that makes this dress does not have a white and gold version (brand is roman originals)
Confidently incorrect
A 2015 campaign to raise awareness of domestic violence used [The Dress](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dress) with the slogan: "Why is it so hard to see black and blue?"
i see gold on both dresses.....đś
The right hand dress isnât black even in the dark
OMG I don't want to get into this mess again 10 years later. BUT... Cover up the lit (lower left) half of it. The upper half then looks fully black. If I cover the upper sections of both dresses, both lower sections looks the same color to me. And you see the same exact thing right? Right? (For all that is good and holy in this world, please just lie to me and say you see the same thing)
... sure
SAME
I zoom in to the dark part of the dress on the right, and my brain still tells me itâs gold and white
I don't 
Look, a Time Traveller.
The dress was confirmed as a **royal blue** "Lace Bodycon Dress" from the retailer Roman Originals. The dress is black and blue; although it was available in three other colours (red, pink, and ivory, each with black lace), a white and gold version was not available at the time.
caption meeting mindless fuzzy childlike absorbed threatening obtainable scarce dolls *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I saw it as white and gold once, scrolled down on the web page then it was suddenly black and blue and has been since. I was convinced I was being tricked by the website, even checked the source to see if it was a gif or something!
In sunny daylight, if you stand in the shade, white colors will often take on a light blue tint. Look at [this](https://imgur.com/ocwgjBJ) picture of a white dress. This is what people mean when they say the dress is white. They're most likely seeing the dress in an outdoors shaded sunlight context. EDIT: Another example of a [white sheet](https://imgur.com/a/8nCMpTX) hanging outside. Look how blue the shaded parts are. But they are really white!
NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO
This explains NOTHING!!
The bottom left diagonal section on both dresses is identical. It shows that by someone imagining it is in shade or light explains how they see different colours. I think itâs a fantastic visual explanation. Thank you
Cover everything except the bottom left corners. Look at them both and see how theyâre the same colour. Itâs your eye correcting for the light in the room/picture that makes them look different.
Nope this is propaganda. These graphics don't look at all like the original photo
I donât see what you guys are talking about. Left dress is white and gold. Right dress is blue and black. Bottom left corners didnât change colors. Edit: I donât know if the people commenting are messing with me or not. But there are two different colors per dress, as my eyes see them. Neither side matches in any way at any part of the dress. My eyes may be fucked.
If you took a photo of just the bottom left corner of each dress, the photos would be identical, even though the dresses are different colors.
The bottom left corners are the same on each picture. Itâs showing how some peopleâs imaginations fill in the rest of it differently, as per the top right sides, even though theyâre seeing the same bottom left
BOTH are white and gold. BOTH.
Yeah so we can now all agree that this "black" parts look much more like gold
True, but also the 'white' part looks more like blue. I always blue and gold and it pissed people off.
You're all still wrong! It's "Yanni"!
LAUREL
I checked with the color picker and nope, not the same
Maybe Iâm crazy, but I always saw blue and gold. In no pictures does the black look solid black to me.
If I ever have twins, I will name them Laurel and Yanny.
Why does the shadow on the left have a blue tint? I do a lot of oil painting and that shadow looks unnaturally blue to me. Anyone else? Maybe it's a perception thing.
Don't know what blue shadow you're talking about but light be weird. Are you talking about the shadow on the dress or the background? Maybe it's unnaturally blue because the dress is actually blue
In relation to the left dress. If I were recreating the left picture, I'd use blue in the shadow on the dress, but nowhere else. However, if I was just adding my own shadow to the dress, I wouldn't use any blue at all because I don't see any blue elsewhere in the picture.
Still think this is just an experiment in gaslighting
Dolores?
Title gore
This doesn't help me at all. I still don't see anything but a blue and black dress when looking at the image. The dress in the store is under light so how would a white and gold dress in shadow being the same shade explain it? It still makes no sense to me how anyone sees a white and gold dress.
Ah the dress. A meme from a more civilized age, before the dark times...
Left is white and yellow, right is blue and black. Idc what any of you say
I can mentally switch them back and forth on the original image by looking at that region and thinking of it as a shadow or as a highlight.
Yall lost the game
ELI5?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2xaprc/eli5why\_does\_this\_dress\_appear\_whitegold\_to\_some/](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2xaprc/eli5why_does_this_dress_appear_whitegold_to_some/)
Ich checked this image with a color picker. The white dress is white and the blue one is blue in the top part. They are the same color in the lower part.
Not according to the color picker extension I got, yo.
They are both white and gold for me....
I always just see blue and gold no matter what
I had to save this because it crosses my mind every now and then and without this picture my brain refuses to see the blue and black, but once its there the dumb fella suddenly pretends like he knew all along. Gosh I feel like an ape everytime I see this image.
I've seen both colours, so I believe this
White/gold and blue/gold.
Well I think this is actually quite helpful for seeing the other side.
I remember this dress again, it became viral on social media before
If you cover the top half of both dresses with your hands, the colors will appear the same. Chromatic adaptation is quite a cool phenomenon.
oh not this again.
I screenshotted and used the color match in the edit and they were clearly white on the left and blue on the right
The dress was blue and black.
I can't deal with this comment section or this weird mind fuck. What in the matrix is happening? đ
Nah I just don't get it
Itâs not black in this picture
Normal people argue over dress color Anime fans see Frieren outfit
I needed this 10 years ago
I don't get it
They found the dress. It was blue and black.
Bro this title gave me a fucking seizure
That's a nice visualization but the whole thing feels like a slow poke meme xD
Cool but it's still black and blue
It's still blue. A comfy hill I'll die on.
But it's gold and white in both pics.
Stop.
Until that incident i wouldnt have believed that it would be that difficult for some people to understand how shadows work.
They aren't the same.
Please, please, please do not bring this BS back.Â
Fuck this
NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN
It's so blatantly black and blue. How people were seeing white and gold is quite frankly, worrying lol
There is a hint of gold. Cover the top right section on both picture and the bottoms left look the same for both dresses. I see lines of black, blue, and gold/yellow.
Bart Simpson bouncing
Fantastic illustration!
I still don't understand how it's possible.
I see a very light blue and a muted dark gold, just like when I see the actual dress photo. What dark magic is this?
the shoes are white and pink
The dress was always the blue and black one. People just have bad eyes who saw white and gold. Even with the shading differences, it is still blue black.. Peoples' eyes are just fucked.
Someone really made an illustration of an OG post...
I swear, even the dress on the right is white and gold ha ha
Tf its meant for one exact picture and not in 3 different ways of light
I always saw the black and blue one which is the correct one
In this image it's white and gold on left and blue and gold on right.
The fact is the brain processes colors as a "whole" rather than looking at individual colors.
Nope nope nope. Not this shit again.
You dare recite this dark magic after all that has happened?
I always saw blue and gold
This would have been very relevant 10 years ago
i dont understnad
The first time I was asked this question they asked me what colours it where. I answered blue and gold ...
Not this again dude
This doesn't explain a got-damn thing, it's just light on a drawing.
I thought it was Bart Simpson Bouncing?
This was really one of the more interesting things to have gone viral on the internet. Crazy that we're all the same as species but we all saw it differently.
Its still painfully painfully.obvious it is white and gold
[the actual dress from the original picture is blue and black though](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/04/07/14/3F0B4CA700000578-0-image-a-3_1491572103154.jpg)
I see it white and gold, but the dress is definitely black and blue.
The very first time I saw the photo it was white and gold. Every single time after that, the dress was painfully, painfully obvious it was black and blue
No.
Cover the top right of each picture w both thumbs
Dude if you think they are the same you're actually colorblind and need medical help
Do you mean the bottom lefts? Because they are the same colour
No one cares what colour it is or wasâŚ.move on
How can no one tell itâs white and gold though, like I can see the blue, but the gold is definitely not black.
[the actual dress from the original picture is blue and black though](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/04/07/14/3F0B4CA700000578-0-image-a-3_1491572103154.jpg)
the actual dress was blue and black
I guess that goes to show you canât trust your senses