Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber divided by #TheDress
Exactly what colour is it?!
An image of a two-tone dress has gone viral, catching the attention of Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, and more – is it blue and black or white and gold?
Tumblr user Caitlin McNeil posted the picture on the social network after her friends could not decide the true colour of the dress.
It belongs to the mother of a close friend of Caitlin, who was planning to wear it to her daughter’s wedding.
The image quickly went viral and sparked fierce debates on social media using #TheDress – catching the attention of many celebrities.
Which side are you on?TEAM BLUE AND BLACK
TEAM WHITE AND GOLD
The debate is focussed on whether the dress is white and gold striped or blue and black. It appears to split opinions, with equal numbers on each side.
The reason people perceive a difference is due to the way our brains process what we see.
Ashley Wood, a lecturer and optometrist at Cardiff University told Sky News: "The phenomenon of colour constancy means your brain will adjust the colour of an object depending on its surroundings or illumination.
"So if there’s a lot of blue in the environment, for example, the brain will subtract blue from the image your eye sees.
"There’s also the process of colour adaptation, where the colour you perceive is affected by what you have previously been looking at.
"This effect is easily demonstrated as an after image, if you view something that is red for 30 seconds, then look at a white background it will appear green for a short time.
"Depending on the context it’s probably one or both of these effects which are allowing people to see the image differently."
The actual colour of the image is blue and black.
However the debate still rages on social media about #TheDress, with both sides unlikely to back down any time soon.