The origin
A badly lit photograph of a dress was seen by some as blue and black and by others as white and gold.
How it spread
It divided the internet within a day in February 2015 and became a genuine subject of vision research.
What it means
The rare meme that produced published science. The disagreement is real, in how brains discount lighting.
Follow the source
Short editorial summary written by Random Access Memes from the sources above; the wording is ours, not theirs. Every link was checked for a live response on September 13, 2026.
