The viral #TheDress photo was confirmed to show a dress of what two colors?

The viral #TheDress photo showed a blue-and-black dress. Many viewers perceived the same photograph as white and gold, but the garment itself was manufactured in blue fabric with black lace by the retailer Roman Originals.

The controversy began in February 2015 after Cecilia Bleasdale photographed the dress before the wedding of her daughter, Grace Johnston, in Scotland. A friend, Caitlin McNeill, shared the image on Tumblr on February 26, sending the disagreement around the world. Roman Originals later confirmed the garment’s actual colors, and its website quickly experienced a surge in traffic.

The photograph’s lighting and poor white balance made the colors unusually ambiguous. Human vision attempts to correct for the apparent illumination, so some brains discounted a blue cast and interpreted the dress as white and gold. Scientific studies found that perception varied with assumptions about the light, age and other visual factors. Thus, white and gold describes a widespread perception of the image, not the dress’s actual colors.