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Melania Trump’s Optical Illusion Dress From Windsor Banquet Goes Viral As Fans Debate Its Color
The US first lady, Melania, was seen in her wardrobe for the Windsor Castle Banquet in the United Kingdom, and one little detail is reviving a 2015 color controversy.
The sighting and spiraling internet debate comes on Donald Trump and his wife’s second day of their state visit, which has since been roiled by crown-chasers’ accusations that the American duo broke and came close to breaking royal protocol on numerous occasions.
Highlights
- Melania Trump wore a canary-yellow Carolina Herrera gown with teal diamond earrings at Windsor Castle.
- Debate erupted online over the color of her glossy waist belt — pink, nude, or lilac?
- Netizens compared the fuss to 2015’s viral “blue or gold dress” internet phenomenon.
Speculation of the latter surfaced again today (September 18) over the Slovenian-born Melania’s shoulderless garment.
RELATED:
Melania did not hold back for the event, donning a striking yellow dress and massive diamond earrings
Image credits: X/FirstLadyOffice
In pictures posted on the evening of the dinner, Melania was seen in what has since been dubbed a canary-yellow dress that left her shoulders bare.
The garment, reportedly designed by Carolina Herrera, was paired with loose, hanging hair swept toward her back, showing off formidable-looking teal diamond earrings.
But it was none of these accessories that caused the stir.
View this post on Instagram
Slung across her waist was a broad belt with a glossy finish.
The accessory was seen to be somewhere between “baby pink or an almost nude color”
“In some photographs,” the UK Mirror observed, “the belt appears to be a baby pink or an almost nude color.”
“But in others it comes across as a bold lilac – and no one can decide which is correct.”
Image credits: Getty/WPA Pool
As a nod to this observation, one netizen responded to an X post of Melania with:
“Apparently Melania’s belt was lilac although in some pics it looked pink.”
The controversy was reminiscent of a similar furore a decade ago
“Still trying to figure out the intention behind making this piece a ‘scandalous’ type of illusion,” remarked another.
Image credits: Getty/WPA Pool
“Is it a test to see who will try and falsely claim Melania had her abdomen showing at this event when in reality it’s a taupe/pink colored belt?”
“I have so many questions,” another wrote in response to a White House snippet of the event.
One comment hinted at a furore a decade ago that also involved the color of a dress.
Another intending to wear a blue and black dress to her daughter’s wedding heard that it was gold and white
Image credits: Getty/Anna Moneymaker
In February 2015, the mother of the bride-to-be, Grace Johnston, snapped a photo of a blue and black dress at the Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet in the North of the UK.
The woman, intending to wear it to the wedding, sent the photo to her daughter.
Grace, however, saw white and gold in the garment instead, and because white is symbolic in nuptial ceremonies, she took it up with her mother.
Queen Camilla and First Lady Melania Trump arrive to attend a State Banquet at Windsor Castle – September 17, 2025 🇺🇸🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/aAIWUfJlDO
— FLOTUS Report (@MELANIAJTRUMP) September 17, 2025
The dispute metastasized onto the internet when Grace posted the image on social media for a third opinion, but there too, controversy reigned.
Neuroscientists also weighed in on the debacle, and one saw gold and white
For a week until the wedding, the garment that showed itself as one thing to some and another to other viewers dominated conversations, and even on the day, when the musicians nearly failed to perform due to their preoccupation with the garment.
Image credits: Getty/WPA Pool
According to Wired, a monthly American tech publication, this anomaly is due to an inherent human feature that makes humans see things differently.
Explaining the perception of color, it noted that the eye sees what light strikes first while the brain cancels everything else out.
“Our visual system is supposed to throw away information about the illuminant and extract information about the actual reflectance,” a University of Washington neuroscientist, Jay Neitz, confirmed at the time.
Jay Neitz described the phenomenon as the biggest of its kind
First Lady Melania Trump looks absolutely stunning at St. George’s Hall for the State Banquet. Jill Biden would have been wearing a tablecloth and hooker boots. Class is back. America is back!pic.twitter.com/2jdU3BayRh
— Suburban Black Man 🇺🇸 (@niceblackdude) September 17, 2025
Despite the dress being a confirmed black and blue, Neitz, like Grace, saw white and gold.
“I’ve studied individual differences in color vision for 30 years, and this is one of the biggest individual differences I’ve ever seen,” he said.
“People either discount the blue side, in which case they end up seeing white and gold, or discount the gold side, in which case they end up with blue and black,” said another neuroscientist, Bevil Conway (who saw blue and orange when she looked at the disputed dress).
The confusion around Melania’s belt does not fall into the same category
Image credits: Instagram/melaniatrump
The controversy surrounding Melania’s belt, however, is nowhere near as sophisticated.
According to outlets like the UK Mirror, confusion about the exact color of the belt was merely due to flash photography and photographers editing their images before submission.
Some feel she pulled the look off well
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What do you think ?
LakotaWolf (she/her) 2 months ago
She's a SPESHUL immigrant, it's okay! She's married to the Mango Mussolini, so that gives her an exemption to deportation/incarceration! /s
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LakotaWolf (she/her) 2 months ago
One of those colors (black) is definitely the color of her "soul" as well as the color of the gaping vacuity that sits in place of her husband's lack of empathy/normal human emotions, so that seems appropriate! XD
Load More Replies... LakotaWolf (she/her) 2 months ago
She's a SPESHUL immigrant, it's okay! She's married to the Mango Mussolini, so that gives her an exemption to deportation/incarceration! /s
Load More Replies... LakotaWolf (she/her) 2 months ago
One of those colors (black) is definitely the color of her "soul" as well as the color of the gaping vacuity that sits in place of her husband's lack of empathy/normal human emotions, so that seems appropriate! XD
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