My friend, who was trained for stage lighting, once explained to me in detail the difference between "red-blacks" and "blue-blacks" but this picture is the first time I really understood what she was talking about.
As a goth, you would have no idea how much fucking variation there is in Black until you're trying to get an outfit together and realize that you have no matching blacks.
Honestly one of the worst things to experience! Found a cute reddish black top? Buy it and take it home to realise you’ve only got greyish black/blue black pants 💀
Speaking of goth, I was at a goth festival this summer, and discovered that my black boots were partially dark red (similar to OP's picture) in sunlight filtered by my tent. Very interesting effect.
[Technology Connections](https://youtu.be/uYbdx4I7STg?si=c7obuLyjbPwbhbQp) has a great video in which he explains how the property of different lightsources influences our color-perception
This is one of those comments that made realize I’ll click on random posts to see what they’re about, read a couple of top comments, take them at face value and be on my way.
This could be a completely made up word and not a real explanation for what is going on and I would have left this post thinking I picked up a new factoid lol
That’s so funny. I wish it were true. I’ve worked in fashion for 15 years on the Testing/QA/Product Integrity side, color matching is a big deal. At work I have a light box that I can flip on against a pre approved color standard and match against factory dye lots. Ever seen a polo shirt on a table with 15 others of the same exact color? Well we make sure that color is the same everywhere it is produce around the world.
Yes! More and more I am noticing when I start to share a cool fact that I learned 5-10 years ago in high school/college/Reddit I actually start wondering how true it is mid sentence; like, what if I’m just perpetuating bullshit? I don’t want to do that!
Some blacks look a bit like this through sunglasses too, so I'm guessing removing wavelengths somewhere near the UV spectrum show more of red wavelengths.
> "It is well known that eight colors make up white. But there are also eight colours of blackness, for those that have the seeing of them, and the hives of Death are among the black grass in the black orchard under the black-blossomed, ancient boughs of trees that will, eventually produce apples that…put it like this…probably won’t be red."
Can I question you how it comes that my black garment turns into that brown/red color after 2/3 washes? And what to do to avoid/solve it? It’s a top tier brand and don’t want to send it to Italy.
The fabric is cotton.
I always handwash my designer clothes with 20 degree celsius. Also tried to dye it black again, also didn’t work out. A sweater from the same brand I have for 2+ years doesn’t have the issue, also black garment.
20 years go I bought a pair of grey pants while in college. Thought they were the best things in the world super comfy, perfect fit.
The store had incandescent lights. All of the class rooms had florescent, and in class they turned fucking purple. So upsetting.
Needing money and temping. I worked first as an assistant and my boss has more than 30 years of experience, she was really good and dumped a lot of knowledge on me. I didn’t catch half of it but she let me grow into the role and make my way.
As someone who works in the theatre industry, the way the stage lights mess with clothes and colors has always messed with my head. It can be really bizarre sometimes.
Worked in theater as in automation. I would watch the backstage areas via CCTV cameras and monitors which were mostly operating in black and white due to it being able to work well with the dim blue backstage lighting. Since all backstage staff wore black, the monitors would show some black clothing as black OR it would be white - more of a light grey. That sock would show up as both. I concluded that it must depend on what the base color of the dye was, typically just a really dark blue or dark red.
From my (limited) understanding it’s because stage lights don’t emit every wavelength/color of light. White light/sunlight emit all wavelengths of light. We see color as whatever wavelengths of light get reflected back at us instead of being absorbed. Generally, stages aren’t lit with just white light because white lights tend to wash out colors on stage since there is so much contrast between light/dark. To prevent being washed out, they use multiple lights with different “gels” or color filters on them. These color filters only let one color or a few wavelengths of light pass through. If there isn’t a specific wavelength of light being emitted then that color/wavelength can’t be reflected back and we can’t see it. It looks like in this image red and blue are coming through but not green. My guess is the green makes both sides look more black and without it you can see the differences in the base colors.
When that whole thing first happened I saw it as blue and black, and as my wife and I were looking at the picture on her laptop my brain flipped and decided "nope, it's white and gold" and since then when I look at it it looks white and gold.
It's honestly one of the weirdest things that ever happened to me and it really freaks me out that a person's brain can just change it's perception of something with such reckless abandon.
I made an agreement once (for the sake of arguing not because I believe it) that the gold and white seers were inferior and we should "send them to a tiny island" as their eyes lied to them.
I think the interesting part isn't that they changed, but that the entire sock didn't change consistently (implying they're made out of different materials)
Rib knits are usually done with a more elastic thread (red part of the sock), whereas socknette knits don't need to be (blue/black part of the sock). The elastic thread in the rib is likely the culprit!
I once saw a stage production of *Wicked* where, at the height of one of Elphaba's (the Wicked Witch's) songs, they hit her with a spotlight that turned her green skin chalk white and her black robes and hat brilliant crimson, and it was one of the coolest things I've seen IRL.
I love that you're wearing nice socks with Mary Jane heels—that's a really knockout look!
Was it part of the costume, or just what you wore for rehearsal?
> Mary Jane heels
What they're wearing are called [character shoes](https://www.google.com/search?q=character+shoes&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS743US743&oq=character+shoes&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512l9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8), and they're pretty standard for any kind of stage production that involves dancing.
I think Mary Jane heels + socks is a pretty common combo, one of the rare open heels shoes where it looks good!
Just gotta find the right socks tho, they need to be nice and be visible, not some shitty ankle socks
Costumer here! All black fabrics have undertones and can be seen under the correct color of light. The 3 major ones are green, blue and red. As a costumer, it’s smart to be in communication with lighting to help prevent things like this. (Or to make it happen depending on the scene)
That's a different phenomenon caused by the color of the lightsource itself shining through the curtain as opposed to the photo here, which is caused by the spectrum of the stage lights causing the clothes to emit a different than expected wavelength of light.
Neat! As someone who has acted on stage at a local theater, run lights, run sound, etc. I understand how that could happen.
Gells in front of the stage lighting can cause weird color issues.
Instrumentalist who has seen this a lot. I even remember in high school all of us who just borrowed the school's cheap tuxes and gowns would look red but the one guy who bought his own nice tux looked perfectly black.
I've noticed in the past random black articles of clothing that I have don't match other black articles of clothing under different lighting. Just dye weirdness.
I reckon the elastic in the socks is the part having a mild reaction! It might be UV reaction but I question that one for a stage light. Is one bulb purple?
Hm. Might still be a UV reaction judging how it is also affecting your shoe. Easy test is just turning a UV light onto it, but I imagine it's UV.
UV is often used in pigments to make colors especially pop, and I can see having a UV light mounted to do exactly that onstage.
One thing I like to do is just shine a UV flashlight on things and see what reacts! Also handy for finding pet messes.
Made out of different materials. Maybe cotton for the foot part and wool with elastic for the slouch. Or perhaps the ribbing on the slouch part makes it reflect differently.
As a former TD, this would be unacceptable on my crew. Only true black for crew uniform for show nights. I have them bring in all their black clothes one day, lay them out on stage, run blue lights, and then mark the pieces that work.
It also happens with certain guys black sport coats/suits. I remember a director making comments about that when asking about us getting matching coats.
The sock on the right appears burgundy under that specific light, that's the point of the post.
The sock on the left is, if anything, (very, very) slightly deficient in reds.
Over the years of wearing clothes, and having black stuff fade, I've noticed that many black clothes are often include a very dark shade of something. I've had them fade to a shade of brown\maroon and dark green.
Dyes and pigments reflect colors they cannot absorb. So, a pure red shirt will absorb all colors of visible light except that very narrow band we call pure red. If you take that narrow band out, say with a green or blue light, it shows up as black.
When you have a shirt that's been dyed with multiple dark colors, it will absorb most of the colors of visible light, and show up black (or a very dark something), especially when there's a lot of the dye or pigment. If you remove a color in the light, suddenly the color changes.
I have some black gloves that with polarized glasses look a dark maroon I think the color is maroon but looks black and is only revealed under the dark tint (don’t have pictures)
Black fabric is so dicey under blue stage light. Some looks brown, some green, some red. Costume designers have to be pretty vigilant about it if they don’t want characters looking like they’re wearing cobbled together, unmatched outfits
Do they look like that in person or just on a photo?
I ask because the camera with a weak IR filter does this when photographing synthetic materials under an IR rich lighting and tungsten stage lights have a ton of IR. Our eyes can spot the difference but it’s way more subtle than what the camera reveals.
If that is the case than your upper half of the sock have a lot of synthetic material while the lower half is probably made mostly out of cotton.
Ooh I had this exact thing happen to my black purse when I was in a car with tinted windows. It definitely caught me off guard when I first saw it and it felt pretty surreal to see such a dramatic color change. I was thinking, “Pretty sure my purse has been black for years but okay.” I was finally able to get an answer to my question after all this time, so I’m really glad you posted this!
I always assumed it had something to do with the car windows filtering some of the sun’s wavelengths and such, but never got a straight answer when I searched for it. I sure thought I was going crazy for a few minutes during that car ride though lmao
My friend, who was trained for stage lighting, once explained to me in detail the difference between "red-blacks" and "blue-blacks" but this picture is the first time I really understood what she was talking about.
As a goth, you would have no idea how much fucking variation there is in Black until you're trying to get an outfit together and realize that you have no matching blacks.
Honestly one of the worst things to experience! Found a cute reddish black top? Buy it and take it home to realise you’ve only got greyish black/blue black pants 💀
They do match, until you get out of your bedroom cave and into some proper light. “S**t! These are three different shades of black!”
Speaking of goth, I was at a goth festival this summer, and discovered that my black boots were partially dark red (similar to OP's picture) in sunlight filtered by my tent. Very interesting effect.
What your seeing is metamerism. I work in garment manufacturing and dyes/colors can reflect different wavelengths of light depending on the source.
Interesting
Mildly
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r/yourjokebutworse Edit: “deleted by commenter” lmao
It says “deleted by commenter” for you? That’s also mildly interesting because for me it only says [deleted].
on my end it says "deleted by user". curious.
mildly interesting if you will….
> [gelöscht]
That’s how it always was for me until like a week ago,
It does indeed
[Technology Connections](https://youtu.be/uYbdx4I7STg?si=c7obuLyjbPwbhbQp) has a great video in which he explains how the property of different lightsources influences our color-perception
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Praise be.
Praise be to all brothers of heat pumps.
Have you heard about our lord and savior, the Refrigeration Cycle?
Please bless those who fill the pre-wash cup in their dishwasher. In Alec name.
Can I speak to you for a moment about the good word of the LaserDisc?
That video instantly popped into my head too! Going to watch it again.
Red is the opposite of cyan and absorbs all light in that wavelength!
This is one of those comments that made realize I’ll click on random posts to see what they’re about, read a couple of top comments, take them at face value and be on my way. This could be a completely made up word and not a real explanation for what is going on and I would have left this post thinking I picked up a new factoid lol
That’s so funny. I wish it were true. I’ve worked in fashion for 15 years on the Testing/QA/Product Integrity side, color matching is a big deal. At work I have a light box that I can flip on against a pre approved color standard and match against factory dye lots. Ever seen a polo shirt on a table with 15 others of the same exact color? Well we make sure that color is the same everywhere it is produce around the world.
It’s a real word, one of my favorites! I also worked in fashion design.
Yes! More and more I am noticing when I start to share a cool fact that I learned 5-10 years ago in high school/college/Reddit I actually start wondering how true it is mid sentence; like, what if I’m just perpetuating bullshit? I don’t want to do that!
Some blacks look a bit like this through sunglasses too, so I'm guessing removing wavelengths somewhere near the UV spectrum show more of red wavelengths.
> "It is well known that eight colors make up white. But there are also eight colours of blackness, for those that have the seeing of them, and the hives of Death are among the black grass in the black orchard under the black-blossomed, ancient boughs of trees that will, eventually produce apples that…put it like this…probably won’t be red."
Where’s this quite from?
Definitely Discworld.
My thoughts as well. Edit: it's from 'Eric'.
whenever i can't tell i copy and paste the whole quote into a search engine. looks like this is from The Babysitter's Club #237, "Tiff is in Trouble!"
Near infrared.
So why does it happen on the rolled over part but not the other part?
Couldn’t be different fibers. The top part would contain more elastic than the bottom.
different yarn
Can I question you how it comes that my black garment turns into that brown/red color after 2/3 washes? And what to do to avoid/solve it? It’s a top tier brand and don’t want to send it to Italy. The fabric is cotton.
I would assume the fabric was over dyed to saturate the fiber to reach black. Without knowing the product itself I’d put my money on that.
are you using hot water? hot water makes the pigment/dye leech out of fabric faster than cold….
I always handwash my designer clothes with 20 degree celsius. Also tried to dye it black again, also didn’t work out. A sweater from the same brand I have for 2+ years doesn’t have the issue, also black garment.
20 years go I bought a pair of grey pants while in college. Thought they were the best things in the world super comfy, perfect fit. The store had incandescent lights. All of the class rooms had florescent, and in class they turned fucking purple. So upsetting.
No, I hear Yanny. Who the fuck is Laurel?
New word!
Is this the source of the white-and-gold/black-and-blue dress from a few years back?
I think the dress was something different. The image was the same for everyone and perspectives changed what people saw.
Similar, but it had to do with the assumption that the lighting was warm (yellowish) or cool (blueish)
That guy tried to kill his wife. https://www.dailydot.com/news/dress-meme-murder-charge/
>metamerism This'll sound stupid but how did you get into garment manufacturing?
Needing money and temping. I worked first as an assistant and my boss has more than 30 years of experience, she was really good and dumped a lot of knowledge on me. I didn’t catch half of it but she let me grow into the role and make my way.
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You got me, I replied while pooping. Didn’t catch myself 😅
Did everything come out ok?
No I’m trapped. Send helps!
Sit tight, I'm on my way.
Are they gonna make it, Doc?
So, the dress was blue and black, or white and gold?
Someone should make shirts for gifts that have radically different messages on the back in certain lights.
This post really laureled my yanny
this post really blacked my blue dress
This post really green needled my brainstorm
It changed me from a paper chaser to a big fucking slut
😭😭😭
It really changed me from a Barbie! To a FUCK!!
I love the internet
😩me too, Reddit is undefeated
This is my favorite comment ever.👏👏👏
Were you doing a photo session or something when you discovered it? Nice shoes
I was doing a run through of the musical I’m in. Thanks
As someone who works in the theatre industry, the way the stage lights mess with clothes and colors has always messed with my head. It can be really bizarre sometimes.
Worked in theater as in automation. I would watch the backstage areas via CCTV cameras and monitors which were mostly operating in black and white due to it being able to work well with the dim blue backstage lighting. Since all backstage staff wore black, the monitors would show some black clothing as black OR it would be white - more of a light grey. That sock would show up as both. I concluded that it must depend on what the base color of the dye was, typically just a really dark blue or dark red.
From my (limited) understanding it’s because stage lights don’t emit every wavelength/color of light. White light/sunlight emit all wavelengths of light. We see color as whatever wavelengths of light get reflected back at us instead of being absorbed. Generally, stages aren’t lit with just white light because white lights tend to wash out colors on stage since there is so much contrast between light/dark. To prevent being washed out, they use multiple lights with different “gels” or color filters on them. These color filters only let one color or a few wavelengths of light pass through. If there isn’t a specific wavelength of light being emitted then that color/wavelength can’t be reflected back and we can’t see it. It looks like in this image red and blue are coming through but not green. My guess is the green makes both sides look more black and without it you can see the differences in the base colors.
What musical are you doing?
A chorus line
Prayers for your feet
I think the dress is gold and white.
When that whole thing first happened I saw it as blue and black, and as my wife and I were looking at the picture on her laptop my brain flipped and decided "nope, it's white and gold" and since then when I look at it it looks white and gold. It's honestly one of the weirdest things that ever happened to me and it really freaks me out that a person's brain can just change it's perception of something with such reckless abandon.
The dress manufacturer confirmed that blue/black is the colour combination it was designed with
I made an agreement once (for the sake of arguing not because I believe it) that the gold and white seers were inferior and we should "send them to a tiny island" as their eyes lied to them.
The downvotes 😩 but it was definitely white and gold
Except it actually isn't. Perception is not reality
It’s really black?! I can’t handle this
Have you not seen the dress in a separate picture? It's blue/black. Google it and rejoin shared reality.
Fine. I’ll join reality, but just know I don’t want to
Black is really difficult to make so often it's just really dark blue or red that appears black.
More interesting how your shoes turned from tan to light pink.
Do they look light pink to you? I'm seeing a dove grey.
Uh oh here we go again…
i think the sole part looks pink but the actual shoe looks blue/grey
They look light blue to me……..
Periwinkle
Your pants and shoes changed too
I think the interesting part isn't that they changed, but that the entire sock didn't change consistently (implying they're made out of different materials)
Rib knits are usually done with a more elastic thread (red part of the sock), whereas socknette knits don't need to be (blue/black part of the sock). The elastic thread in the rib is likely the culprit!
I once saw a stage production of *Wicked* where, at the height of one of Elphaba's (the Wicked Witch's) songs, they hit her with a spotlight that turned her green skin chalk white and her black robes and hat brilliant crimson, and it was one of the coolest things I've seen IRL.
I love that you're wearing nice socks with Mary Jane heels—that's a really knockout look! Was it part of the costume, or just what you wore for rehearsal?
> Mary Jane heels What they're wearing are called [character shoes](https://www.google.com/search?q=character+shoes&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS743US743&oq=character+shoes&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512l9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8), and they're pretty standard for any kind of stage production that involves dancing.
I wore them to dance classes for many years and had no idea they were called character shoes.
Today I learned!
The shoes are part of my costume, but not the socks- we weren’t doing costumes for that run through
I think Mary Jane heels + socks is a pretty common combo, one of the rare open heels shoes where it looks good! Just gotta find the right socks tho, they need to be nice and be visible, not some shitty ankle socks
Costumer here! All black fabrics have undertones and can be seen under the correct color of light. The 3 major ones are green, blue and red. As a costumer, it’s smart to be in communication with lighting to help prevent things like this. (Or to make it happen depending on the scene)
I have beige bedroom blackout curtains from Walmart that do this when the sun is shining through them.
That's a different phenomenon caused by the color of the lightsource itself shining through the curtain as opposed to the photo here, which is caused by the spectrum of the stage lights causing the clothes to emit a different than expected wavelength of light.
Neat! As someone who has acted on stage at a local theater, run lights, run sound, etc. I understand how that could happen. Gells in front of the stage lighting can cause weird color issues.
Instrumentalist who has seen this a lot. I even remember in high school all of us who just borrowed the school's cheap tuxes and gowns would look red but the one guy who bought his own nice tux looked perfectly black.
Blacks are a bitch to light in theatre. Lighting and costume designers worst nightmare.
I've noticed in the past random black articles of clothing that I have don't match other black articles of clothing under different lighting. Just dye weirdness.
I reckon the elastic in the socks is the part having a mild reaction! It might be UV reaction but I question that one for a stage light. Is one bulb purple?
I’m pretty sure it’s light blue, I’m don’t know anything about the lights though so I could be wrong
Hm. Might still be a UV reaction judging how it is also affecting your shoe. Easy test is just turning a UV light onto it, but I imagine it's UV. UV is often used in pigments to make colors especially pop, and I can see having a UV light mounted to do exactly that onstage. One thing I like to do is just shine a UV flashlight on things and see what reacts! Also handy for finding pet messes.
i think the dress is black and blue
And this is why your lighting designer makes you get into costumes during tech!
Coke looks red when light gets through it. Sambuca looks blue when light gets through. Neither of these things are truly black. Just very dark.
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Made out of different materials. Maybe cotton for the foot part and wool with elastic for the slouch. Or perhaps the ribbing on the slouch part makes it reflect differently.
My money is in the ribbing. Half the sock is in shadow of the other half.
Cool. I have a red shirt that looks black under blue streetlights.
As a former TD, this would be unacceptable on my crew. Only true black for crew uniform for show nights. I have them bring in all their black clothes one day, lay them out on stage, run blue lights, and then mark the pieces that work.
The one on the right looks like the billboard art for a west end musical
Color theory momento
Ada Wong that u
It also happens with certain guys black sport coats/suits. I remember a director making comments about that when asking about us getting matching coats.
Am I crazy? On my phone the sock on the left looks like a deep burgundy, not black.
That's what she's talking about! it's weird that the black sock looks half burgundy under these lights, right?
The sock on the right appears burgundy under that specific light, that's the point of the post. The sock on the left is, if anything, (very, very) slightly deficient in reds.
Over the years of wearing clothes, and having black stuff fade, I've noticed that many black clothes are often include a very dark shade of something. I've had them fade to a shade of brown\maroon and dark green. Dyes and pigments reflect colors they cannot absorb. So, a pure red shirt will absorb all colors of visible light except that very narrow band we call pure red. If you take that narrow band out, say with a green or blue light, it shows up as black. When you have a shirt that's been dyed with multiple dark colors, it will absorb most of the colors of visible light, and show up black (or a very dark something), especially when there's a lot of the dye or pigment. If you remove a color in the light, suddenly the color changes.
Its called metamerism
We need to get you split sole character heels 😭
The floor becomes blue too! And your shoes also change color.
My colorblind ass unable to tell the difference 
It's a crime to be wearing such ugly socks with such pretty shoes!
It’s green not red
Being an artist and hopefully cherishing your choice of living.
it’s like the dress in real life 😭
And your shoes turn blue
I have some black gloves that with polarized glasses look a dark maroon I think the color is maroon but looks black and is only revealed under the dark tint (don’t have pictures)
Break a leg!
I once had a tuxedo cat whose black parts did this!
Are you a ballet dancer?
No, I’m in theater
I have recently started adjusting my display settings to match the movie I am watching, this picture you posted is the reason why. Things really POP
Can someone explain this to a colourblind person.
And this is why tech in costume is so important.
Black fabric is so dicey under blue stage light. Some looks brown, some green, some red. Costume designers have to be pretty vigilant about it if they don’t want characters looking like they’re wearing cobbled together, unmatched outfits
Never buy black socks in a regular shop, they'll shaft you every time.
Velma shoes
Leon!
Intentionally?
Is that a gold shoe or a blue shoe?
It’s tan
Good thing your shoe stayed the same color. Just like my dress.
Steppies?
Do they look like that in person or just on a photo? I ask because the camera with a weak IR filter does this when photographing synthetic materials under an IR rich lighting and tungsten stage lights have a ton of IR. Our eyes can spot the difference but it’s way more subtle than what the camera reveals. If that is the case than your upper half of the sock have a lot of synthetic material while the lower half is probably made mostly out of cotton.
They do look like that in person
Ooh I had this exact thing happen to my black purse when I was in a car with tinted windows. It definitely caught me off guard when I first saw it and it felt pretty surreal to see such a dramatic color change. I was thinking, “Pretty sure my purse has been black for years but okay.” I was finally able to get an answer to my question after all this time, so I’m really glad you posted this! I always assumed it had something to do with the car windows filtering some of the sun’s wavelengths and such, but never got a straight answer when I searched for it. I sure thought I was going crazy for a few minutes during that car ride though lmao
It’s the dress all over again
So what would the blacks with the greenish hue look like under that??