--- title: Dresses Made of Watermelon Slices Are Instagram's New Trend description: The "dresses" are really just an optical illusion, but they've become popular photographs on the social media platform. canonical: https://time.com/4835362/watermelon-dress-instagram/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-27T19:08:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:44:56.554Z og:title: Dresses Made of Watermelon Slices Are Instagram's New Trend og:description: It's an optical illusion that's just right for summer og:url: https://time.com/4835362/watermelon-dress-instagram/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ebf50588984b610/6988d3877cdbacce06d58f49/watermelon-slices.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2700 og:image:height: 1519 og:image:alt: Watermelon og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dresses Made of Watermelon Slices Are Instagram's New Trend twitter:description: It's an optical illusion that's just right for summer twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ebf50588984b610/6988d3877cdbacce06d58f49/watermelon-slices.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Optical Illusion Watermelon Slice Dresses Are Seriously All the Rage on Instagram > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=fd012143-aaba-4aed-8849-63044f16fec0&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jun 27, 2017 7:08 PM UTC  Photo Researchers—Getty Images/Science Source  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jun 27, 2017 7:08 PM UTC Here’s a new fashion and photography [trend](http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/instagram-fans-pose-in-watermelon-dresses-in-bizarre-new-social-media-craze/news-story/453b8bafe638f7c61a78b8a1ade90108) anyone can take a bite out of: Instagram users are posting images of themselves and their friends or children decked out in [“watermelon”](http://time.com/4766828/viral-watermelon-taco-video/) dresses that are, literally, just a slice of watermelon. It’s all, of course, a matter of perspective. While babies are an especially easy subject for this [photography hack](http://time.com/4727137/best-travel-photography-accessories-gear/), a number of adults are getting into the spirit as well, even carving out fashion-forward shapes into the summer fruit’s crisp pink flesh. The result? Fun photos that are seasonally _very_ appropriate, even if they might not hold up to too much scrutiny. The trick seems to be getting the distance and focus just right and making use of the green rind and variation in pink hues to give the “dress” some extra panache. A quick perusal of the hashtag [#watermelondress](https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/watermelondress/) on Instagram suggests that these just started popping up in late May and early June, with new iterations now posted daily. Even Emma Lee Bunton, also known as the former [Baby Spice](http://time.com/4398171/the-spice-girls-tease-a-major-reunion-in-new-video/), tried one on for size. Take a look and be inspired by this latest development in Instagram optical illusions. The potential as summer heats up and watermelon slices become even more ubiquitous is, clearly, endless. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4835362/watermelon-dress-instagram/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4835362/watermelon-dress-instagram/"},"headline":"Optical Illusion Watermelon Slice Dresses Are Seriously All the Rage on Instagram","datePublished":"2017-06-27T19:08:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:44:56.554Z","description":"The \"dresses\" are really just an optical illusion, but they've become popular photographs on the social media platform.","url":"https://time.com/4835362/watermelon-dress-instagram/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Social Media","viral","fashion","Instagram"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ebf50588984b610/6988d3877cdbacce06d58f49/watermelon-slices.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ebf50588984b610/6988d3877cdbacce06d58f49/watermelon-slices.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Watermelon","caption":"Watermelon","creditText":"Photo Researchers—Getty Images/Science Source","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4835362/watermelon-dress-instagram/","name":"Optical Illusion Watermelon Slice Dresses Are Seriously All the Rage on Instagram"}}]}] ```