I know, I know — every little difficult-to-decipher thing on the internet has been named "The New Dress" since, well, the actual "Dress" debuted back in Feb. 2015. There's been nail polish. A bag. A name on a Starbucks cup. Even legs! My brain is exhausted even recalling all these new dresses — and I'm sure you feel the same. That's why I'm really sorry to have to bring this up, but... well, I'm just gonna say it: The dress, it's happening again. And even though I know you don't want to hear it, this is ridiculous, and personally, I really just need everyone else to tell me I'm not crazy because these flip-flops are totally blue and gold, right?
As much as they without a doubt look blue and gold to me, apparently according to Buzzfeed, there are some on the interwebs claiming they see the flip-flops as white and gold, black and blue, or even blue and brown. Insanity, right? There's no way these flip-flops could be anything other than blue and gold, just the dress was blue and black without a shadow of a doubt... right?
For what it's worth, the original tweet doesn't reveal the real colors, but... I mean, come on, look at them.
If you are in the (I assume) minority who sees white and gold or something, don't worry: There is a scientific reason for this. According to Arthur Shapiro, a professor specializing in visual perception at American University, speaking to USA Today in Feb. 2015 after the madness surrounding "The Dress," the way humans perceive colors can vary depending on a lot of other factors. "Color is our perception — our interpretation of the light that's in the world... individual wavelengths don't have color, it's how our brains interpret the wavelengths that create color." In other words, "In reality, it's light coming off of the computer screen, and then our brain interprets it and those interpretations can differ."
I mean, it's still blue and gold, but yeah, I get that. Honestly, to me, it mostly like the lighting of the photo with the flip-flops — like the lighting of the photo with the dress — is a bit faded, and that's causing a difference in perceptions. Perhaps the question we should all be asking ourselves is why so many department stores are clearly offering such questionable lighting?
Image: Peter Hershey/Unsplash
