The actual dress was black and blue. The confusion came from how lighting and color perception tricked people's brains, making some see it as white and gold. It became a viral example The White and Gold (No, Blue and Black!) Dress That Melted the Internet The New York Times The white gold or blue black dress: The widely published original Download Scientific Diagram Blue Black White Gold Dress Explained Dress Mystery Solved: Why I See White And Gold And This explains how the blue black white gold dress illusion was possible. But it doesn't explain why some people saw it one way and some saw it the other, and no one seemed to see