Jenna Bush Hager Wears the Dress That Divided the Internet on 10th Anniversary of the Viral Debate

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It was the dress that rocked the internet back in 2015, sparking the viral debate: Is it gold and white or black and blue? On the 10th anniversary of the post, Today honored the online phenomenon by bringing co-anchor Jenna Bush Hager out in the dress. 

Bush Hager threw off a white robe to reveal the controversial frock, saying, “It is clearly blue and black, right? And that’s what made this thing so mind-blowing because the answer is not what we expect.”

Noting that she views the viral image as white and gold, Bush Hager used optometrist Dr. Sarah Klibanoff to explain why the photo was the “perfect storm to create an optical illusion,” explaining that it had to do with the fact that the dress was in shadow. 

“If a person, let’s say, saw the dress in a shadow, there’s more blue light in a shadow,” she said. “I’m going to filter out that blue light and I’m actually going to see the dress much more white and gold.”

The Roman Originals dress immediately sold out back in 2015 and had plenty of celebrities chiming in online, with Taylor Swift writing on Twitter at the time, “It’s OBVIOUSLY BLUE AND BLACK.”

“Obviously this dress is blue and black, but in the photo, in some of the photos, I saw white and gold,” Bush Hager said, jokingly adding, “All I have to say is horizontal stripes aren’t great on anybody.”

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Bush Hager actually borrowed the dress from the offices of BuzzFeed, the site that originally shared the viral post. 

“It’s no longer available because, you know what, it was for sale 10 years ago,” she quipped. “I had a 1-year-old.”

And while co-anchors Carson Daly and Willie Geist insisted they saw black and blue, Bush Hager and Savannah Guthrie were firmly team white and gold. 

“You wear it well, that’s all that matters,” Daly told Bush Hager. 

However, weatherman Al Roker was not as invested, complaining, “Where was anybody in the control room about a minute ago? We could have ended this a lot earlier.”

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