Some of those zip-off pants from an outdoor type store would dramatically change your lower half silhoutte. You know the ones where lower part of the pant leg completely detaches so you are left with a pair of shorts. They come in cargo styles too, so you could just stuff the removed legs into a pocket.
The sames way Sacha Baron Cohendoes it: change of dress, change of hair, but most of all change of attitude.
Whatever Joaquin Phoenix uses seems to work pretty well.
On set once, I was chatting with the guy who owned FX Smith. They did the prosthetic make-up for movies like Nixon. He said it was more effective to make small changes. For instance, they could cover Anthony Hopkin’s entire face with high-end prosthetics, but it would work better if you just gave him Nixon’s nose and ears, then let the actor change his own body language to suit the character.
So I’d recommend a prosthetic that changes just your chin and a different nose. The chin would change the overall shape of your face, the nose modifies how people see your eyes/face. And it’s all subtle.
Cut a couple rings from a baby bottle nipple and stick them in you nose; makes a huge difference in your appearance.
Hold something (cotton, gum, piece of a foam ear plug, etc.) in your lower lip to get that distinct look of a snuff user. You can also mess around with padding the top lip a little.
If you don’t usually wear a hat, wear one. If you usually wear something like a baseball cap, wear a different type of hat. Don’t pull the hat brim down low over your face; it looks like you’re trying to hide and makes people pay more attention to you.
Get some cheap weak drug store reading glasses.
Don’t smile or show your teeth; stay tight-lipped and think mean thoughts. People will quickly look away if you appear to be unfriendly.
A guy dressing as a woman rarely works.
I see news articles about guys (dressed as women) robbing banks at least once a year.
Here’s one from 10 days ago.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6919969.html
They totally saw through his disguise.
nm.
I shouldn’t speed-read, really, I know.
I know feds who do disguises for a living (think criminal/espionage surveillance). I once got to sit in on one of their orientation classes. Most of what they said was covered here.
– It is impossible to disguise yourself from someone who knows what you look like. Yes, if you are Eddie Murphy with 8 hours to spare in a Hollywood makeup chair you probably could fool a child or a simple mind, but no one who needs a disguise IRL has the time and resources to do this. “Mission: Impossible” is entertaining, but it’s fantasy.
– That said, most people don’t bother looking. If you’re tailing someone, or being tailed, a few simple steps can help you quickly blend into a crowd.
– The fastest means to disguise yourself: coats, reversible clothing, hats, glasses (not just sunglasses, regular ones will do in a pinch), adding a backpack, good wigs. Most important, however: changing your gait (the stones in the shoes trick is a tried-and-true method).
– Fake moustaches and facial hair were frowned upon (at least domestically-- overseas it’s a different story), mostly because in 2010 facial hair draws attention to people, and most anyone can spot fake facial hair.
Again, it was emphasized that disguises work at a distance, for a brief period of time, and work best when no one is actively looking for you. Close-up, for a decent period of time, with someone who is actively looking for someone who looks like you (or knows you)? You have no hope of disguise.
A fluorescent jacket and a clip board are usually an adequate distraction towards people noticing your face.
Yeah, but half the fun is jumping up on the counter while wearing a Jimmy Carter mask, firing a shotgun in the air and then leading a running gun battle through the street while carrying a dufflebag full of cash on your back!
Hold your jaw differently. Like you have an over or under-bite. Learn to wiggle your nose and wink. If you hold those muscles frozen halfway through the jesture your face changes dramatically. Purposefully hold your head tilted to one side just an inch, and decide to press your tongue against the roof of your mouth.
but yeah, the reversible coat is your best bet.
As far as gait, I’ve been recognized by mine.
anecdote I met a girl during a summer program in high school. Spent 3 weeks hanging out during the program. Then went different ways.
3 years later, I’m walking through the mall and hear my name. Turn around, it’s her, and she says she recognized me walking past the store where she works by my gait.
From how far away? How much interaction? Seeing you across a large room? Walking past in a hallway? Giving directions/having sign a clipboard for a delivery/exchanging nominal pleasantries?
If you’re just trying to blend into a crowd, a clothing change and maybe a wig, glasses, or hat would do it. Especially from behind.
Closer contact is going to be more challenging.
The other half is going back to your hide-out and rubbing the cash all over your body, right? Or is that just me?
Davekhps has provided some good advice, although the needs of covert law enforcement operatives might not be quite the same as your need.
As many have noted, ‘subtle but effective’ is a far more successful strategy than over-the-top efforts that actually prove counter-productive by drawing attention to you.
Start by confounding expectations and masking your most obvious traits. Dress in a way that is perfectly normal, and likely to blend into the background, but not the way you would normally dress.
Change your eyes, because they are very important in terms of how we recognise one another. Either put glasses on if you don’t normally wear them, or vice-versa.
Change your hair colour and style - very easy and quick to do. You can change the colour or tint with spray stuff that washes out, and you can comb, brush or gel your hair to go a way it normally doesn’t.
Very subtle application of ‘pancake’ make-up can change your general complexion sufficiently to make you different from the normal you people see every day. This alone won’t disguise you (we still recognise our pale friends when they get good tan) but in conjunction with the other efforts it can help.
Change your body language. This takes effort and time to get right, but with practice you can learn to switch between two completely different ‘body language’ modes. Example: if you are a mellow, loose-limbed, slouching slacker, become a smart, efficient, brisk, hyper ‘A’ type who draws himself up to his full height. Allow the adopted mood and the mindset to govern how you move and walk.
Another strategy entirely is the G.K. Chesterton strategy - become invisible by being someone people see every day but never pay any attention to: uniformed attendant, delivery man… whatever. Any person whom we tend to just recognise by uniform or function, whom we mentally ‘label’ according to their role, and never really look at as people.
Just listened to an (old) This American Life podcast about how gay doctors (and other “young turk” doctors sympathetic to them) within the Psychiatric community worked to change the “Homosexuality” mental disorder classification in the DSM. One of the gay doctors actually spoke in front of a huge conference of his peers as “Doctor X”—disguised and anonymous—and told them the uncomfortable truth that many of their peers were gay (and yet, quite well-adjusted).
He said a big part of his disguise was wearing clothes that were a size too big for him. It apparently changes people’s perception of how tall you are.
Have you considered drag? Get a cheap wig, makeup, and some lady’s clothes from Goodwill. Voila!
Just an anecdote, but years ago my dad shaved his mustache off (which he had worn for at least 5 years prior). No one in the house knew that was what he was doing in the bathroom. He then walked through the house, and out the kitchen door with no one noticing. He went to the front door and rang the doorbell.
My mom answered the door and didn’t recognize him at all until he started to speak.
Of course, that was a “disguise” that only lasted a few moments.
Another anecdote:
Many years ago, my family was waiting for me in the car, in winter, with the windows rolled up and the wind in an unfavorable direction. I was wearing a heavy coat and a hat, so only my face was visible. The second I walked around the corner, maybe 100 feet away, our dog perked up immediately. The only way he could have recognized me is by my gait.