In case you had absolutely no contact with the outside world this past week, the Internet was taken over by a debate about the color of a certain dress.
Business Insider tells the full backstory of how the controversy of the dress came to the public eye: 21-year-old singer Caitlin McNeill from Colonsay posted a picture to Tumblr after her friends had disagreed on the color of the dress (which was worn by the mother of the bride in a recent wedding of two of McNeill’s close friends). The picture went viral after it was posted to Tumblr.
I first saw the picture Thursday night and was convinced without a doubt that the dress was white and gold. The next morning, I looked at a picture online again, and this time, I saw black and black. Confused, I looked away; then I looked back. Still blue and black. Then I looked again, and it had changed back to white and gold. I spent way too long doing this. Eventually, I could flick back and forth between the two colors in my head, which was a very odd experience.
I did a little research to what some of my favorite (and not so favorite) celebrities had to say about this phenomenon. Here are some tweets addressing the controversy.
Team White and Gold:
“ITS WHITE AND GOLD IM DONE” -Rebecca Black
“If that's not White and Gold the universe is falling apart. Seriously what is happening????” -Anna Kendrick
“What color is that dress? I see white & gold. Kanye sees black & blue, who is color blind?” -Kim Kardashian
“white and gold” -B.J. Novak
Team Blue and Black:
“I don't understand this odd dress debate and I feel like it's a trick somehow. I'm confused and scared. PS it's OBVIOUSLY BLUE AND BLACK” -Taylor Swift
“And for everyone asking I see blue and black” -Justin Bieber
“Wow... My mind is blown. Civil war in the studio right now. #blueandblack” -Demi Lovato
“IT’S A BLUE AND BLACK DRESS! ARE YOU F***ING KIDDING ME” -Mindy Kaling
“Wait now we think blue eyed people see it as white and gold #breakingnews” -Mindy Kaling
(In classic Mindy Kaling style, she has also made many other hilarious comments about the dress on her Twitter account.)
It is important to note that it has been confirmed that in person, the dress is indeed blue and black. And many articles have been written on the scientific explanation for this phenomenon.
But Rashida Jones points out that maybe the way we are thinking about this all wrong: “What genius pulled off this elaborate metaphor just to teach us the importance of tolerating other perspectives? #blueandblack or #whiteandgold”?
