What color is this dress?

[Grumpier Than Thou]

WHO F--KING CARES

EVERYONE

This is making me so mad because I literally woke up to three texts about this god damn dress.

[Simfan34]

Aren't you popular?

[angus]

What color is this dress?

Sort of powder blue with an olive or copper lace trim.  It's hideous, though, so if you're thinking about buying it for your sister or your girlfriend, think again.

[Holmes]

Some animals and insects can see different/more colors than humans can. If they were to look at this dress, I wonder if they would see one of those colors that we can't perceive.

[angus]

Some animals and insects can see different/more colors than humans can.

Yes, there's nothing special about the "visible" region of the electromagnetic spectrum.  The 400 - 750 nm region is only called the visible region because we were the first species here to evolve language and the ability to write books about it.  If bumblebees could speak they'd call 300 - 600 nm the visible region.  They don't have a word for what we call red, but they must have lots of cool words for the various shades of purple and blue that we call ultraviolet.  I wonder how Romulans and Klingons perceive Captain Picard's "red" uniform?  I wonder how Giordi perceives it?

[solarstorm]

Here's the dress photographed on another day and under different lighting conditions:

[solarstorm]

Here's a video that explains why so many people erroneously see white and gold:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AskAQwOBvhc

[DemPGH]

It's clearly white and gold. I think this is probably a lighting or possibly monitor issue. Since color has to do with wavelength, I suppose it's possible that it could appear to change colors or whatnot or look different if the wavelength is at a boundary or if lighting is changed. 

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I'm utterly baffled by how anyone thinks it is White and Gold. I mean, where?

[Simfan34]

I'm utterly baffled by how anyone thinks it is White and Gold. I mean, where?

I think it may prove useful for identifying who shall need to be liquidated once The Revolution comes.

[Beezer]

Any polling data on the partisan breakdown of black/blue vs white/gold?

[Lief 🗽]

It's obviously white and gold (normal).

Also this is my favorite thing the internet has ever done. I am so #blessed to be living right now.

[angus]

Here's the dress photographed on another day and under different lighting conditions:

Well, now the light blue part looks dark blue, and the olive/copper part looks like a darker shade of olive/copper, but it's still hideous.  I suggest that you stop obsessing over this one and pick something else.  

Please tell me that this is a bridesmaid dress.  Then I could understand it because they're always hideous.  I assume that it is some secret designer's code or dressmakers ethic:  no one must upstage the bride.  Make the bridesmaids' dresses so ugly that even the most well-endowed woman will look frumpy when she puts it on, so that the blushing bride shines by comparison and all eyes in the chapel will be fixated upon her.

[solarstorm]

Here's the same dress by Roman Originals in different colors.

[solarstorm]

BTW, the dress already has its own wiki page.
Its name is "Lace Bodycon Dress" in royal blue.
You know you made it when you've got your own article on Wikipedia...

Wait, why doesn't Atlas have its own wiki page?

[Edu]

The blue part of the dress i don't really see it as white but as a very light blue, but no matter how hard I squint or how many pictures people post of the dress with normal lighting I still can't see anything remotely close to black in the first picture of the thread. I only see gold.

This stupid little thing is actually getting the worst out of people, it's quite hilarious

[angus]

"Lace Bodycon Dress" in royal blue.

I originally voted Blue and Gold and I'll stick with that, but I'm not really seeing "royal" blue, which I think of as something like maybe hexadecimal 4160E0.  I'm seeing what I'd call "sky" blue, which I think of as something like hex 7EC0E0.  As for the "gold", I'm seeing something more like a cross between a slightly too ripe verdial olive and a well-oxidized copper pipe, maybe something like hex 927020.  You can play around with color palettes to explore these.  Here's one I googled, for example:

http://www.color-hex.com/color/000000

Start with black and then change the values for RRGGBB, remembering that in hexadecimal notation, the domain runs from 0 through F.  You can either change the values in the URL or in the little query box at the top middle of the page.  There may also be a way to directly input these hex color codes directly in YABB code for coloring text, but I'm not sure how to do it off the top of my head.  I know you can choose "blue" or "pink" or whatever, but there may also a way to do RRGGBB.

 

[angus]

This stupid little thing is actually getting the worst out of people

What?  The worst?  This thread has inspired mention of fluorescence, The Revolution, vaginas, the electromagnetic spectrum, hexadecimal notation, girlfriends, incandescent lighting, and weddings.  True, it's a hideous dress, but any thread that inspires such an eclectic array of important topics is not bringing out the worst in people.

[politicallefty]

It's obviously blue and black. The black in some parts does have a slight gold-ish tint to it, but that's clearly due to the lighting. I've tried looking at it in every way possible and cannot see how anyone is getting white out of blue.

I first saw this last night and a big poll had it at something like 3-1 for white/gold. I don't understand what those people are seeing.

[angus]

I don't understand what those people are seeing.

Now you know how the rest of us feel when we witness your enthusiasm for HILLARY 2016

[SWE]

Black and Blue and anyone who says otherwise should be removed from the gene pool

[Joe Republic]

I think the mistake the white/gold people are making is to not take the background into account.  Given the bright yellowish glare you see there, your eyes should be adjusting the brightness of the dress down, not up.  I could understand the dress being seen as white/gold if it was clearly taken in a dark room with a blue-ish light source, but looking at the background it obviously isn't.

[Hatman 🍁]

Jesus people, has it ever occurred to you that other people may process colours differently? Calm down with the hyperbole.

[Hatman 🍁]

Any polling data on the partisan breakdown of black/blue vs white/gold?

It's funny, because we were joking about running a poll like this at work (I work for a polling firm).

[Joe Republic]

Jesus people, has it ever occurred to you that other people may process colours differently? Calm down with the hyperbole.

I'm a Psych major, so yes it did occur to me.