Kim Kardashian wearing Alexander McQueen's "Optical Illusion dress"

We all know that women prefer clothes which makes them look thin, emphasize their curves and enhance their figure. Spanx pantyhose, Wonderbras… You name it! But come on, no dress is really gonna take ten inches off your waist, or make you look twenty pounds lighter than you really are… Would it? Well, no ORDINARY dress would be able to do that!

But when designers discover fabulous world of optical illusions, and then start playing with such concepts, you’d be amazed what they could do to the female figure… only sky is the limit!

Take the dress on the right for example – simply by adding a well-known optical illusion pattern to the waist, the designer Alexander McQueen suddenly makes any woman wearing his dress appear much thinner in waist than she really is. Not to mention how he successfully reversed the effect in the breasts region, accomplishing curvaceous, hourglass appearance!

Really?! Who Else Does This?

The next dress by Stella McCartney is another extreme example of what optical illusions can do to a woman’s body… Sure, it’s an easy task to emphasize Kim Kardashian’s curves, but what if you’re not as curvaceous?

Using a similar concept that slimmed down Kim in the first image, McCartney’s dress takes the illusion even further – By using a slightly off-white color fabric on the bust, the “shadow effect” makes woman’s breasts appear much larger, immediately putting them in the spotlight (something I’m sure most gentlemen wouldn’t be eager to complain about). But that’s not the only enhancement here!

Kate Winslet premiered Stella McCartney’s dress at the Venice Film Festival, and it was so noticeably figure-altering that it was quickly dubbed “The Optical Illusion Dress” by the press. You can immediately recognize the black-fabric-on-the-sides trick, one that made Kate look like a corset model from the 18th century. An hourglass figure so slim, that when compared to her mortal anatomy, it’s actually shocking…

So remember, optical illusions aren’t just theoretical creations used by artists. No, they are also quite practical when applied to real world settings by fashion designers who want to please their clientele by giving them an entirely new figure. Here are few more celebs wearing Stella McCartney’s dresses. Has it worked for all of them? You be the judge!

For their front cover design (scroll further down), a photograph of the group traversing a zebra crossing, the photographer Iain Macmillan was given only ten minutes to take the photo whilst he stood on a step-ladder and a policeman held up the traffic. In the scene, the group walk across the street in single file from left to right, with Lennon leading, followed by Starr, McCartney, and Harrison. McCartney is barefoot.

It might be interesting to mention how to the left of the picture (parked next to the zebra crossing) is a white Volkswagen Beetle motor-car which belonged to one of the people living in the block of flats across from the recording studio. After the album was released, the number plate (LMW 281F) was stolen repeatedly from the car. The crossing is also a very popular destination for Beatles fans and there is even a webcam featuring it!

While many of these are interesting, few are suitable for MoIllusions, but this great graffiti project spotted on Bond Street in New York City by Twitpic user Kennycity certainly is.

While any graffiti tribute would take some time and forethought (assuming the artist didn’t want to be arrested in the process), this lenticular portrait took even more time to put together as the creator had to figure out the angle his work would be viewed at and to ensure it went up straight in order for the illusion to work. In case you were curious what it looks like from the wrong angle, her is a side view:

As if all this weren’t impressive enough, the artist didn’t just stop with the face of the late Mr. Jobs, he also created the image to portray a young Steve Jobs when viewed from the opposite direction, giving the viewer a quick look at the aging process of the visionary.

While there are no indications as to who put up the artwork (one of the drawbacks of being a graffiti artist), they certainly live up to Apple’s slogan and “think different.”

I’m not sure whether this artist was more influenced by Sandro Del Prete’s opus or works done by famous Octavio Ocampo, but those of you following this website for some time will immediately notice the resemblance! Just like Sandro, Oleg’s works usually feature a portrait of famous personalities. Go through the gallery below and see how many of them can you recognize. Van Gogh, Sigmund Freud and Salvador Dali are just few among dozens.

With works like these, it’s sometimes hard for the author to balance the weight of both images. Personally, I’m more fond of illusions where the “constructed”, 2nd image is more subtile. Oleg on the other hand, does quite opposite – The second image is so easily observable in some paintings, that you can actually miss the first one consisting of harmless landscape or characters in different settings. What you have to do then, is observe the painting more closely to actually see the initial setting and not concentrate on the faces. True skill of such artist is then evaluated by the fact how well did he construct the illusion, and whether the parts of landscapes constructing the illusion have useful part in the original setting. Artists often trap themselves by forcefully adding elements needed to construct the illusion, which don’t actually play their part well in the original setting. In my opinion, Oleg has mastered the technique just like Sandro did, and each part in his paintings seamlessly works in both images, the first “apparent” one, as well as the “hidden” illusory one. So, how many faces did you recognize? Which of his paintings did you like the most?

It seems as if her left leg ends with the right leg’s foot. Same goes for her right leg. At first I considered this yet another shameful Photoshop disaster, which I immediately forwarded to fellow webmaster who collects these. Yet, the twist came after I was explained there is actually nothing wrong with the photo itself! I couldn’t believe the photo was actually a “mere” optical illusion.

What has happened, is that Carme covered her left thigh in a way where it appears it’s pointing left, instead of it actually pointing up. This photo has been featured in several world sites as a wrong retouch, but after all the false spotlight it received, the agency who took the shoot explained how the legs were actually not crossed at all! I’m not sure I managed to explain what is happening here, but be sure to check the solution I created with help of the Photoshop (below) – it’s still hard to imagine, yet it should explain the illusion.

Well, whether or not you believe his story that says he was completely unaware of the hacking, and whether or not you believe he deserved getting hit by a pie during his testimony in the House of Commons, it’s hard to deny that there’s something a little mischievous about him. Fortunately, thanks to a specialized news camera that is designed to show people in their true form, we now know what Rupert Murdoch has been hiding for years -his demonic nature.

Ok, so maybe it’s just a strange camera angle that caught a humorous view of the media celebrity, but the horns illusion is still surprisingly fitting for the old man. What do you guys think, is the camera operator trying to tell us something?

BTW, those of you who contacted me about the problem regarding the “Next Random Illusion” button (that it always returns exactly the same illusion), you might try clearing your browser cache, and the problem will disappear. Please report if this helped!

While my personal favorite is this clean and easy to read Washington picture, the entire gallery is certainly worth a look.

Anamorphic art requires the viewer look at the piece from a specific viewpoint or using a special tool in order to actually see the artwork in its proper display form. By the end of his career, Dali was a master of this skill, creating paintings like the one above that required cylindrical mirrors to see the work in its true form, and by painting spectroscopic images that required 3D glasses to take in the full effect.

His most famous work of this type is the Mae West Room in his Theater Museum that was based on his famous painting, The Face Of Mae West. As you can see in the pictures below, the stage appears to be nothing more special than a lip-shaped sofa with a strange fire place and two paintings. When you step up to the viewing platform and look through the lens though, everything comes together into a bizarre portrait of the legendary actress.

The first two photos are my own, but the final image is courtesy of Flickr user asirap.

These pixelized block portraits were inspired by Leon Harmon and Bela Julesz’s 1973 Lincoln Illusion. If I’m right, there should be no problem for you to recognize who are the famous people in the following images.

Try squinting your eyes as much as you can, or look from afar if you need to. The only thing that might prevent you from recognizing the correct celebrity, is if you are not very familiar with American culture

I just can’t believe our brain’s ability to pick up a face from such intensively reduced images! When you think about it for a second, these images are consisted of just a few single-colored squares! Also, be sure to notice, how photos become almost sharp if you squint your eyes enough. Solution can be found inside article’s tags…

Oh, and for those complaining how it would be much more effective checking the internet first, before asking a question, like I did in my previous post, I say to you – you’re partly right. But then I would miss the fun reading all your personal answers, comments and tips. Just an example: when I asked about Palau, one of the readers pointed how Palau deserves the title of second best scuba diving Islands on earth. That there are bunch of stoned people chewing Beatle nut all day, and how they don’t know they are ALL stoned because they all chew it (and spit orange blobs everywhere you go). This reader also pointed how they have a history of renting wives, daughters, sisters etc to the neighboring village for money to raise funds for the chiefs. That was in the old days…. and how they are still a nation of sleeping around with the neighbor’s wife… etc.