‘The craziest thing you’ve ever seen’: Woman’s paint is being called the ‘white and gold dress version of 2025.’ You won’t believe what it does
It might have been years, but when it comes to The Dress™, people remain divided. Some claim the dress was blue and black, while others insist that it was white and gold. Truth be told, it’s all about color theory and color relativity.
Essentially, color theory is the study of how colors interact, complement, and contrast with each other, and most importantly, how we perceive those colors. Isaac Newton’s color wheel might be a good framework for color theory, but in this viral video, we are able to see the theory in action.
The TikTok, which has amassed a huge 12 million views, was posted by user Hannah (@hannanabread).
In the clip, she begins by asking, “You guys want to see some cool color theory?”
She is filming at the intersection of two walls. The left wall is colored beige, while the right is colored cream. On the left wall, there’s a painted white stripe.
Hannah begins by adding paint to this side of the wall, but it comes out white. She then uses the same brush and, seemingly, the same paint on the other side. However, instead of coming out white, the color comes out as the same shade of beige on the left side of the wall.
So, despite being the same paint, the color looks completely different on each side.
“Isn’t that the craziest thing you’ve ever seen?” she added. “I love color theory. It’s so cool.”
Hannah didn’t immediately respond to The Mary Sue’s request for comment via TikTok comment and Etsy.
@hannanabread @Valspar Color theory (color relativity) is how people see color and how colors change when viewed in different lighting or next to other colors. #colortheory #fyp ##painting ♬ original sound – Hannah
Commenters were entranced
In the comments, users couldn’t believe their eyes.
“The fact it changed to the exact shade as the other wall is insane,” one wrote.
“I have never felt so CONFUSED my whole life,” another admitted.
A third quipped, “OK, so I think you confused color theory with witchcraft.”
“I NEED an explanation or I’m not gonna sleep,” a fourth insisted.
Commenters also referenced other famous head-scratchers. “If Yanny was a color,” a fifth joked, making reference to the Yanny/Laurel debate. While a sixth exclaimed, “THE DRESS IS BLUE AND BLACK.”
A handful of commenters also expressed how much they “hate” color theory, presumably because of videos like this.
What is color relativity?
In a follow-up video, Hannah added that, specifically, what we’re seeing is color relativity.
“Color relativity is about how colors relate to one another, how we as humans perceive colors when they’re next to other colors or when lighting is affecting the way that they look,” she explained.
She went on to explain how, in the video, the wall on the left was orange, and the wall on the right was blue.
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“I’m putting beige on top of both of them,” she said. “The fact that I’m putting beige on top of orange is affecting the way that you see the beige and the orange. The fact that I’m putting beige on top of blue is affecting the way that you see the beige and the blue.”
She continued, “The other factor is light, which I think is huge in this situation because usually it’s not that drastic. I have a warm light upstairs in the hallway and a cool light on the landing where I was painting. So one of the walls was getting hit with the warm light, one of the walls was getting hit with the cool light. It was making this really weird… look for everything. But that’s it. That’s all it was, super easy.”
How lighting affects your walls
A Home and Garden article expresses sentiments similar to Hannah’s. The article notes that all kinds of lights can impact how wall paint looks, whether that be natural light, artificial light, yellow-toned light, or other colored lights.
One of the experts consulted for this article was Sue Wadden, Director of Color Marketing at Sherwin-Williams. In her interview with the outlet, she emphasized the importance of lighting when it comes to choosing a paint shade for your home.
“I always recommend homeowners to consider the presence and direction of natural light in a space before choosing a final paint color,” she said. “For example, a north-facing room painted in a warm orange-red color will appear brighter and warmer, whereas a west-facing room painted in that same color will become intensely vivid in the late afternoon. “
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