US woman finds optical illusion dress that became viral sensation in 2015 at a yard sale

A US woman has claimed to have found the internet’s most divisive optical illusion dress at a yard sale discovery.
Nearly a decade after it first confused millions, the viral “white and gold” (or was it “blue or black”?) dress has been spotted again and has since been at the centre of conversation online.
The dress, originally designed by Roman Originals and purchased by a British woman, Cecilia Bleasdale, in 2015 for her daughter Grace’s wedding, quickly became a viral sensation.
While the dress was officially blue with black lace, its appearance in photos led to a massive online argument, with people swearing it looked white and gold.
Celebrities, scientists, and optical illusion experts weighed in, with Taylor Swift even throwing her opinion into the mix.
“When Twitter released its list of the most influential moments of 2015, only big political events, the Women’s World Cup, and humanity’s first trip to Pluto were ranked ahead of the dress that Cecilia Bleasdale bought to wear at her daughter Grace’s wedding,” The Guardian reported.
“It added, “Was it #blueandblack or was it #whiteandgold? For a few days in late February and early March, millions of people, perhaps hundreds of millions, including Taylor Swift, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, all had an opinion.”
The dress became a cultural phenomenon, forever dividing the internet into two camps: Team Black and Blue and Team White and Gold.
Here’s how the US woman found the dress:
Recently, a TikTok user, Amanda Rubinstein, stumbled upon the famous dress while perusing a yard sale in Burlington in the US state of Vermont.
“The dress was one of the first items I saw when I walked up to the yard sale,” Amanda told Newsweek.
“I immediately screamed, ‘Oh my goodness, you have THE DRESS!’ I was in utter shock. The owners and other neighbors had a nice laugh at my expressive reaction upon seeing it,” she added.
She didn’t hesitate to document the iconic find, which promptly went viral on social media. The video rekindled the memories of the viral frenzy.
Here’s the story of how the dress became a viral sensation back in 2015:
Back in 2015, Cecilia Bleasdale picked up what seemed like a simple blue and black dress for her daughter Grace’s wedding, but a quick photo sent the internet into a frenzy.
When Grace saw it as white and gold, confusion sparkled, leading her friend Caitlin to share the photo online, which ignited a viral debate, as reported by The Guardian.
Social media exploded with millions arguing over the dress’s “real” colours. The debate soon drew the attention of the mainstream media, landing Bleasdale and her partner Paul Jinks on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where they received $10,000 and gifts in both colour combinations.
A post on Buzzfeed – an American online news platform – alone drew 26.5 million views in hours, a viral surge unlike any they’d seen before, as reported by The Guardian.
But fame didn’t bring fortune. Bleasdale and Jinks returned to the UK, only to find that the whirlwind left them with legal fees and unanswered royalty pursuits, far from the hype’s value, as mentioned in the Guardian report.