It’s been a little over two years since the blue-and-black dress (or was it a white-and-gold dress?) gripped social media, with nobody being able to make a firm decision on what color the dress actually was.
Arguments flowed back and forth between friends, and people wondered how they could see the dress one way but their best friend could see two completely different colors.
And now the dress has a cousin. Meet the Nike sportswear that’s dealing with the same exact problem.
Pink And White?
When the first image of sportswear came out in July, the person who posted it was fairly positive as to what color it was. In the eyes of Rachael Stewart, it was pink and white, and that was that.
It wasn’t even close to the end of the question.
Almost immediately, differing opinions came in, with some of her friends claiming that the Nike sportswear was actually gray and teal, which look nothing like the suggested colors of pink and white. Once again, the color debate was well underway among friends.
No Help From Nike
Of course, there was one major difference from the infamous dress. As a Nike product, there was the chance that this mystery could be solved within minutes from taking a look at Nike’s product line. After all, if Nike didn’t sell either pink and white or gray and teal as a color combination, that would make it obvious that it had to be the other one.
However, Nike offers so many color combinations these days that using Nike’s offerings to try to eliminate one of the two options proved fruitless. With so many colleges using Nike to outfit their athletes, it would probably be easier to list the colors the sportswear company doesn’t offer.
Learn why we have these color issues below!
Shadows Fill A Void
When it comes to seeing color, we’re not really getting a perfect view of what the object’s color really is. What we’re actually getting is the color of light that is reflected by the object in question. For instance, a lemon absorbs all colors of light with the exception of yellow. As the yellow light is reflected from the lemon into our eye, we see a yellow fruit.
But that only works perfectly when shadows aren’t present and when light hits our eyes from the correct angle. When we see items at an angle, the light can alter our perceptions of the color. Moving an object to a different viewpoint can drastically change the shade that we see, and if the shade changes enough, it can appear to be another color entirely.
So What Color Is The Sportswear?
Honestly, based on the information that’s available, it’s impossible to be completely certain as to what color it is. With shadows certain to be present in the photo, all you can do is use your brain’s best interpretation of what it sees to make an educated guess on the color.
Whether you’re on the pink/white or teal/gray side, one thing is for sure: These debates are far from over.