# What color is this dress? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 27, 2015, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742 "2015-02-27T02:07:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/181 "2015-02-27T19:35:10Z")
None of those colors in your link is anything close to black. How can you say they are? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/182 "2015-02-27T19:41:55Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > None of those colors in your link is anything close to black. How can you say they are? The colors aren’t black, it’s the contrast with the rest of the dress and the background of the photo that makes it obviously black. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/183 "2015-02-27T19:42:06Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Hell, there’s a curtain in the background of the photo most people agree has black cow-like spots, and the browns in that curtain are almost the same as the dress. I do agree that this is the best clue to the real-life color of the dress. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/184 "2015-02-27T19:44:22Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > The colors aren’t black, it’s the contrast with the rest of the dress and the background of the photo that makes it obviously black. Sure, but the question is not what color it actually is, but what color are you seeing in the picture. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/185 "2015-02-27T19:46:48Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > The colors aren’t black, it’s the contrast with the rest of the dress and the background of the photo that makes it obviously black. So the colors you see in the photograph aren’t black, but when asked “What color do you see?” you say ‘Black’ anyway because you think the original dress is black? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/186 "2015-02-27T19:47:31Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > Sure, but the question is not what color it actually is, but what color are you seeing in the picture. I am seeing both the color black and the color gold/brown at the same time. When I see it, my brain says “that’s a washed out black”. There’s no distinction between brown/gold and black in this photo. It doesn’t have to be a binary thing; in a fuzzy logic sense, I’d say it’s like .6 black and .4 gold. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/187 "2015-02-27T19:52:33Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > I am seeing both the color black and the color gold/brown at the same time. When I see it, my brain says “that’s a washed out black”. There’s no distinction between brown/gold and black in this photo. It doesn’t have to be a binary thing; in a fuzzy logic sense, I’d say it’s like .6 black and .4 gold. But there’s a distinction between a black that’s a dark grey and a black that’s a dark shade of any color. Me, I’m seeing a very dark yellowish brown, not any shade of gr– Wait. Is this all a marketing campaign for that movie? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/188 "2015-02-27T19:55:18Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > I am seeing both the color black and the color gold/brown at the same time. When I see it, my brain says “that’s a washed out black”. There’s no distinction between brown/gold and black in this photo. It doesn’t have to be a binary thing; in a fuzzy logic sense, I’d say it’s like .6 black and .4 gold. Not a whit of black. All brownish-gold. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/189 "2015-02-27T19:57:18Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Not a whit of black. All brownish-gold. Color is not just RGB values, it’s context. In the color context it’s black, even if the RGBs are brownish-gold (for me). ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/190 "2015-02-27T20:07:18Z")
This is an amazing, though somewhat mutated, exploration of the “Mary the Color Scientist” problem of epiphenomenal qualia, though. In that people who know the actual colors but are unable to experience them that way is very similar to Mary knowing about color, but not having experienced it. > **[Knowledge argument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_argument)** > > The knowledge argument (also known as Mary's Room or Mary the super-scientist) is a philosophical thought experiment proposed by Frank Jackson in his article "Epiphenomenal Qualia" (1982) and extended in "What Mary Didn't Know" (1986). > The experiment describes Mary, a scientist who exists in a black-and-white world where she has extensive access to physical descriptions of color, but no actual perceptual experience of color.  Mary has learned everything there is to learn about color, but she ha... ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/191 "2015-02-27T20:21:43Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > And, apparently, I still got the coding wrong, despite the edit. Let’s try [again](http://www.maniacworld.com/Spinning-Silhouette-Optical-Illusion.html). I swear, I’m not usually this much of an idiot. Is the dancer supposed to be naked? I only ask because whoever made this added nipples…😃 ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/192 "2015-02-27T20:51:01Z")
The colours I see? Light blue and golden brown. The colours I assumed it really was (believing it was a light issue) : white and gold. I see no change, regardless of how much I scroll. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/193 "2015-02-27T21:05:07Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > I see dark gold and light, dim blue. Seriously, how can you see anything else? > > [Look at this! How are you not seeing this?](http://oi61.tinypic.com/27ymy34.jpg) For my part, I see exactly this. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/194 "2015-02-27T21:07:12Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > The colours I see? Light blue and golden brown. > > The colours I assumed it really was (believing it was a light issue) : white and gold. > I see no change, regardless of how much I scroll. Same here. I showed the same picture to my wife, asked “what color is this dress?” and she said blue and black. I now think this is a Voight-Kampff test, but I don’t know which of us is human. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/195 "2015-02-27T21:11:37Z")
On my cell phone, with brightness midway up, looks gold and white to me. Turning the brightness all the way down and after a few seconds it flipped in my brain and suddenly I saw a brilliant blue and black dress. Bringing the brightness up again I see white and gold. But I have seen the flip happen and is really cool. Several tests later and it’s the same. I don’t immediately see blue and black when I dim brightness in my phone but after staring a while it turns blue. Amazing. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/196 "2015-02-27T21:20:52Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > It changes when I scroll up and down. If I can only see the top half of the dress, it’s white, with gold trim. When I scroll so that the top half is hidden, and it’s only visible from the waist down, it’s blue with brown trim. If I can see the entire dress at the same time, it’s white and gold. I guess it’s a mind trick/lighting thing. That’s what I’m thinking. I look at the top half only and see white/gold, then I scroll to wear the bottom is and it turns blue. I conclude it’s an optical illusion where your eye corrects itself to the background. Like where you see those same [gray squares look different on light and dark backgrounds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_illusion#Color_and_brightness_constancies). ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/197 "2015-02-27T21:29:06Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Color perception is a funny thing. Like I said before, all three answers are “correct,” depending on what your brain is doing. And there are reports of the colors switching for many people. Reminds me a little of that young lady/old woman optical illusion, or of the spinning human figure optical illusions (where some see it spinning clockwise, others counter, and for many, it depends on when they look at it) except with colors. It’s not exactly the same thing, of course, but it’s similar in the sense that two people could be looking at [exactly the same spinning figure](http://www.maniacworld.com/Spinning-Silhouette-Optical-Illusion.htm%22l), with one swearing it’s going clockwise, and the other counter-clockwise. Always reminds me of the idiot cops in the Simpsons: “Lou: Yo, chief, we’ve got a problem here. [I see a vase, but Eddie sees two people in profile.](http://www.mpocares.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/document1.jpeg) Wiggum: Now this may shock you but you’re both right.” The “right brain/left brain” analogy is 100% unmitigated bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/198 "2015-02-27T21:30:27Z")
> [@Macca26](#): > > What I find a little odd is that people can’t “see” the literal colors of what’s in the photograph and without even thinking about it their brain is trying to aim for “but what color is this dress _really_, assuming different lighting conditions?”. It’s not odd ad all. It’s what our brains are already doing every waking hour to compensate for changing lighting conditions. All that stuff that looks like it stays a constant color really does no such thing, but our brains do such a fantastic job at figuring out the “real” color that we can almost convince ourselves that light is not actually that variable. It’s way more odd that some of us can, at times, train ourselves to bypass this mental processing and perceive color more directly. Even then, the processing isn’t fully bypassed–our brains still perform brightness compensation. And I don’t know of anyone that can consciously control the diameter of their pupils. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/199 "2015-02-27T21:40:54Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Always reminds me of the idiot cops in the Simpsons: > “Lou: Yo, chief, we’ve got a problem here. [I see a vase, but Eddie sees two people in profile.](http://www.mpocares.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/document1.jpeg) > Wiggum: Now this may shock you but you’re both right.” > > The “right brain/left brain” analogy is 100% unmitigated bullshit. Grr. Mangled the quoted post and the above Simpsons quote, if that wasn’t obvious. ---
**Author:** ![SpeedwayRyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@SpeedwayRyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpeedwayRyan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742/200 "2015-02-27T21:51:06Z")
Just another data point here…I’m a graphic designer and deal with a lot of photo editing and color correction, so I’m fairly familiar with how things we see as “white” aren’t always very close at all to white, etc. My wife showed me this last night and I clearly saw a white and gold dress. I was confused as to how anyone could see any differently, except MAYBE that the white was a very, very pale blue that was close to white. I purposely didn’t open it in Photoshop and analyze it, as I was interested in the pure perception of it. Then I spent some time squinting at the thing…and suddenly it changed…it was looking more and more blue, to the point where it was just as clearly blue and black. I had a screenshot of it on my phone that I checked to ensure that it wasn’t some sort of internet trickery, because it was that dramatic of a transformation. After that, I could NOT get the thing to look as it originally did to me. I held the phone next to a light, hoping I could trick my brain into thinking it was strongly backlit. Nothing worked. Since then, it’s been blue and black, except for a couple of quick moments when I scrolled past it…then, it might look white and gold to me, but only for a moment, and then my brain “fixes” it to blue and black. I’m pretty amazed that a photo landed right on the borderline…a perfect spot where some people’s brains interpret it one way, and some the other. These things are tricky to design from scratch, and this just somehow worked that way on a crappy cell phone camera and maybe a bad filter. Very cool glimpse into how the mind works, how we perceive things in much different ways than they actually appear in order to automatically color-correct our world and allow it to make sense to us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-color-is-this-dress/713742.md?page=11)