I am sure it can be done well enough to fool a casual inspection. Nothing is likely to survive very close examination where the observer is on guard to detect deception.
I am bald and clean-shaven. I went to the party of an old mate who had been a clubbie - surf-life saving clubs are a thing in Australia, and a significant culture surrounds them. Guys who used to be into the culture often still have the old surfie appearance. So I got some good theatrical facial hair and a wig and gave myself a blonde porn star "tache and a mullet hairdo. Walked past good mates and said hello, and got lots of thin unsure responses that obviously meant they did not recognise me. When I actively engaged them for long enough to look at me, I could see the recognition switch on after a little while, but I wasn’t actively trying to fool them, just letting them figure it out. I think I could have strung it out a bit longer if I actively tried to fool them with an accent, a deceptive back story or the like. Eventually they would have picked it, but I think that if I had moved around like party guests do, there might have been some who didn’t catch on. Body shape, unconscious mannerisms that are hard to hide, etc would eventually clue them in. But this was not officially fancy dress - I just did it for shits and giggles. If it had been fancy dress and other guests were alert to deception for that reason, I would have been rumbled very quickly.
Once upon a really long time ago when I lived in Oakland, my then partner (who was somewhat older than me and had worn his hair long and his beard shaggy for all the time I’d known him) decided for reasons of his own to cut it short and shave it down.
Without telling me about it.
I walked in the house that afternoon and there was a square looking middle-aged fart with short combed down hair, big sideburns, and one of those 1970s macho man 'staches standing in the middle of our living room. Wearing a blue suit jacket and slacks, no less.
I said “Do you have a warrant, motherfucker?”
He cracked up laughing like an asshole, then I realized who the laughing asshole was.
Seriously. I left an old hippie dude in the morning and came home to a plain clothes Oakland cop* that afternoon. If he had walked past me on the street, I’d’ve had not the foggiest that it was my boyfriend of several years.
So, based on my personal experience, you could fool someone that way, at least in the short term.
*Not really, but he was the very spit of one. I really expected to see a badge and a gun within the next couple of seconds.
I think whether you can fool someone with a disguise depends on alot of different factors. One mainly being the person your disguising yourself from and how much attention they pay to detail. How aware they are, etc.
You also have to consider how long said person has known you for. If it’s somebody you’ve known for years and years it would probably be more difficult.
How elaborate your disguise is also matters alot. Along with your mannerisms, voice, etc. There’s more to it besides just how you look.
I have a personal example myself to share. I shaved my beard off recently and showed up at my daughter’s kindergarten class to pick her up. I was wearing a pair of sunglasses and a hat. My daughter’s teacher had no idea who I was since she’s always seen me with a beard. I had to take my sunglasses off for her to recognize me.
So I would say yes, it can be done. Just depends on the individual you’re trying to fool.
I had a circle of friends who would often have various themed parties. One party was a cross-dressing theme and I had a friend do me up in makeup, dress, wig, etc. I went out for drinks afterward staying in costume and spied other friends at a table and we joined them. No one recognized me and just thought I was somebody’s friend of a friend. It took me removing my hat, wig, lowering my voice to normal, and slowly saying “It’s me! Gargoyle!” before recognition dawned.
Another time at Halloween, simply dressing as Gilligan made me totally unrecognizable solely due to the wig.
My theory is that I have rather bland distinctive features, with no obvious uniqueness to fixate on, so if I’m not seen as ‘total package’ me then it can be hard to suss out me as an individual.
Oh I don’t know…maybe because I’d like to stay on topic perhaps? If you go back, you can click that big button up top that says, “Post New Thread”. You’re welcome.
Simply: yes. But it helps if you are out of the context they usually see you in and you are surprising them. I do living-history events. A cousin I have known since she was born, and see often throughout the year, happened to be visiting Williamsburg at the same time I was doing a program there. She had never seen me “in character” and we talked for almost 30 minutes before I started to drop clues so she would catch on. And I’ve done the same thing with countless friends and coworkers over the years. Get away from your usual region and situation and I think you could almost fool a parent let alone anyone else.
I went to my niece’s college graduation. My family was seating in the stadium, pretty high up. We where watching the hundreds of graduates file in at the beginning of the ceremony, trying to see if we could spot her. We couldn’t see any faces,we were facing the stage. Just the backs of a bunch of people dressed alike, although we could see the hairstyles. We had no idea where she was going to be sitting and whether she’d be near the beginning or end of the processional.
And a few times we were like “is that her?”, “maybe” “I think that’s her” “No”…
But when she actually appeared, it was so blindingly obvious that it was a little bit astounding. We had absolutely no doubt. The back of her hair, height, posture and gait made her as recognizable as she would’ve been if she was standing right in front of me. So much so that it got us discussing how good humans are at recognition based on small cues. So I think it would be really hard to disguise yourself from someone that knew you well.
Maybe, but also count me among the people who think this would be really creepy, the sort of thing I’d end a friendship over if it went on for more than a few minutes. Doing this for weeks? Yeah, that’s not “prank,” that’s “mentally disturbed stalker.”
In the first or second season of Face-Off (the makeup/effects competition show, not the Travolta movie), there was a challenge to do exactly this (albeit for a relatively brief interaction – the disguised person had to sell their spouse/significant other/parent something in a shop without being recognized, including actually speaking to and in some cases touching them. All the contestants managed it, although in a couple of cases there was suspicion that the other person might have recognized them and played along.
Well besides the height, things like gait and posture would have to be changed to try and disguise yourself then. I still maintain that actual appearance would be the most difficult thing to change. Like I’ve said before, there really isn’t much you can do to change your face.