The dress is black & blue, but here's why you can't tell TJ Kelly 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 Why Did We See The Dress Differently? The Answer Lies in the Shadows Neuroscience News 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