Melania Trump’s dress creates optical illusion – but what colour do you see?

First Lady’s outfit appears to be different colour in separate photos

Ten years on from the blue and black or white and gold dress debacle of 2015, there is a new optical illusion item of clothing taking the world by storm, and it’s been worn by Melania Trump.

The First Lady is in London for her husband Donald Trump’s second state visit, and on Wednesday (17 September), she attended a banquet held by the Royal Family at Windsor Castle.

After photos of the dinner surfaced online, confusion reigned when it appeared that the colour of Melania’s outfit differed in several photos.

Many noted how Melania’s dress and belt combo, designed by Carolina Herrera, appeared vibrant from some angles, but more muted from others.

In one photo, Melania’s dress looks bright yellow with her belt appearing to be a soft lilac.

But in another, she is seen to be wearing a buttercream yellow dress with a brighter baby pink belt.

Melania Trump’s dress and belt combo has confused the internet (Getty Images)

It turns out the dress is actually a merging of the two – a buttercream dress with a a purple belt.

The confusion has been attributed to flash photography – and also photographers tweaking with the saturation of their images before supplying them to press.

Also, every person is wired to see certain items in different colours. Wired previously explained that different wavelengths of light that correspond to different colours enter our eye through the lens and hit the retina, where pigments fire up neural connections to the visual cortex. This allows the brain to form those signals into an image.

The debate surrounding Melania’s dress brings to bear the debate surrounding the colour of a dress that divided the internet into two tribes in 2015.

It was first spotted by a blogger who turned to Tumblr for help when the garment started an argument among her friends.

The ‘blue and black’ or ‘white and gold’ dress debacle was a viral sensation in 2015 (Swiked / Tumbler)

“Guys please help me — is this dress white and gold, or blue and black? Me and my friends can’t agree and we are freaking the f*** out,” Swiked wrote.