Here's the dress from a British retailer that started a social media debate -- it's clearly black and blue

The dress that launched thousands of existential crises Thursday night is from British retailer Roman Originals, and the photo on the store’s website makes it very obvious that the much-debated-about dress is, in fact, blue and black.

The controversy started on a Tumblr page when a user posted a photo of the dress with the caption: “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**k out.”

Soon, much of the internet had joined the debate. It got heated.

Here’s the photo from the Tumblr page:

TumblrWhat colour is this dress?

And here are the photos of the same dress from the Roman Originals website:

Screenshot / Roman Originals

The retailer is in on the fun and not missing its opportunity to market the dress on its homepage:

Screenshot / Roman Originals

Lighting and background colour make a significant difference in how you perceive the dress — in the second photo from the website, the dress looks like a more vibrant blue.

You can buy the dress for £50 (about $US76).

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