Swiked, Canach
Sarah Weichel (above) and Caitlin Mcneill (below)
The picture was initially posted on Tumblr by a 21-year-old singer named Caitlin McNeill who lives on the tiny Scottish island of Colonsay.
In a telephone conversation with Business Insider on Thursday evening, McNeill explained that the picture was a dress was worn to her friends' wedding. In the photo, some people see the dress as white and gold while others see it as blue and black.
The dress was worn by the bride's mother. McNeill and her friends first realized there was something different about the dress when the mother sent her daughter the now-famous photo.
"What happened was two of my close friends were actually getting married and the mother of the bride took a photo of the dress to send to her daughter," McNeill explained. "When my friend showed the dress to her fiancee, they disagreed on the color."
The bride then posted the picture on Facebook and her friends continued to debate the color of the dress.
"All of our friends disagreed," McNeill said.
After seeing the Facebook thread, McNeill decided to share the picture on a fan page she has on Tumblr dedicated to a woman named Sarah Weichel. That's where the dress went viral.
Weichel is a talent manager who represents several YouTubers including Hannah Hart.
Weichel told Business Insider her phone began blowing up on Thursday after McNeill's post started going viral.
"The crazy thing is, I actually have nothing to do with the post. It's literally just a fan account of me, so my name and my photos are all over the account," Weichel said. "I actually don't have anything to do with it. ... But I have been getting a ton of phone calls and emails tonight."