Striped Maxi Dress Macy's Black And White Party Dresses Macy's I've been thinking about "the dress" for 10 years. Here's what I've learned. 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 In 2015, a photograph of a dress went viral, dividing viewers over whether its colors were blue and black or white and gold. This optical illusion highlighted differences in human color perception