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 ELI5:Why does this dress appear white gold to some people and black blue to others? : r explainlikeimfive This whole debate bypassed my family in 2015 but we got hours of discussion put of it tonight as we polled all our friends and family.is the dress blue and black or 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