What do you know about disguises? Are you thinking that to be effective they need to be complicated? After I picked up the recently published Jonna Mendez book, In True Face, I started thinking a bit about the art and psychology of disguise, mostly based on what I was learning about how the CIA uses disguises and the way Jonna talks about the disguises we see in the movies.
For those of you with no idea who I’m talking about, Jonna was Chief of Disguise at the CIA’s Office of Technical Service. And her husband, Tony Mendez, was the CIA operative behind the exfiltration story told in the movie Argo. According to a blurb on the Spy Museum’s website, “her 27-year career included operational disguise responsibilities in the most hostile theaters of the Cold War, from Havana to Beijing to Moscow and ultimately into the Oval Office.”
Types of Disguises
According to Jonna, a disguise is ‘like an onion’, made up of almost transparent layers. You start at the top with hair and facial hair, using wigs, glasses, plano contact lenses, mustaches, and beards or goatees. You get the idea. This is called light disguise and is meant to keep someone you may know from recognizing you – at a coffee shop, for example.
Advanced disguise is a step up and is for when you need to be ‘up close and personal’ for an extended period of time. It could involve a nose prosthesis or a dental facade. You might add an artificial palate to add a lisp to your speech, or a gum plumping device to change the look of your jawline.
Lifelike masks are a lot trickier to come by. There are several types of masks, and not all are effective.
- stunt double masks
- aluminum molds: good for car meetings and low light level situations, these masks are good for any setting where a mask wouldn’t be viewed up close
- semi-animated mask (SAM): custom made for each wearer; may end just above the chin line; most leave the real lips exposed; the material is rigid except for the area around the eyes and lips
- fully animated ethnic and gender change: making an impression for a mask is much like the process used for dental impressions. Remember to add skintight latex gloves to match skin color
Quick Change Disguise: The goal is to disappear in, say, 37 seconds. You don’t want whoever’s threatening you to disappear. You want them to think they’ve totally lost you.
Watch this clip on YouTube for a video introduction to disguises .
8 Hints for Flawless Disguises
- Your disguise goal is to be able to get on an elevator and get off, with no one remembering you.
- You can turn a woman into a man, but it’s almost impossible to turn a man into a woman.
- Regarding men: Did you know that older looking men are considered less threatening than women? Age them.
- Disguises are additive. You make them by adding elements, not taking things away.
- You need some kind of physical apparatus to make you walk differently. A piece of gravel in your shoe will work, or a bandage around your knee.
- Don’t forget about how you smell, your cologne.
- Blending in is situational.
- Accents don’t work. Learn the language.
Hide Your Nationality
It doesn’t matter where you’re from. Here are some things that give us all away.
- The way we hold our fork when we eat.
- The way we smoke and hold our cigarettes.
- The way we stand.
- Our clothes and accessories, especially shoes and hats show others where you’re from. If you want to avoid being a target for pickpockets or others with bad intent, stop at a local store and buy a new hat, a pair of glasses, different shoes – – you get the idea .
11 Examples: Both Good and Bad from Movies and TV
The Americans: The goal is to be forgettable and Matthew Rhys as Philip had this down to a science. Jonna was impressed. Take a look at disguises from this series here.
Homeland: If you’ve watched this series, you’ve seen Carrie’s change of hair color. But dye isn’t always effective and it wasn’t in Carrie’s case. It’s better if you change hair style and make-up to go along with the dye job.
Mission Impossible: The Mission Impossible movies are famous for their masks, but Jonna especially likes Mission Impossible III because of its quick change disguise, easy to pull off because of layering. As an aside, there are three disguises that the CIA considers off limits: religious figures (vulnerable), media personalities, and the Peace Corps (purity).
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: quick change into a schoolgirl outfit is another good example. And the bigger the crowd, the more forgiving they are about changing clothes in public. Lookers don’t focus on the face, but on the profile.
Trail of the Pink Panther: there’s an emphasis on making the disguise – nose, teeth, goatee – look good. In CIA world, “nobody left our labs looking better, they left looking different,”
Argo: shows the importance of a good cover story for exfiltration. It’s often not about the disguise, it’s the story it tells. In ARGO, the Hollywood scouting team cover had to work for all six hostages, not just for one individual.
Inglorious Bastards: points out the importance of cultural customs, in this case how different places count on their fingers. Counting the wrong way is a dead giveaway.
Austin Powers: what is there to say? Just that the CIA would never use the name Oprah and that an alias always had three names. Sometimes you might use only the middle initial, but there were three names.
Superman: It’s all about the glasses!
The Kingsman: it’s all about gadgets. Take a look at the clip below and you’ll see what I mean. The poison pen was a favorite of the CIA because it had many uses: camera concealment or hiding a cyanide pill. Supposedly, it wasn’t used as a weapon.
Octopussy: since Halloween’s coming and you may want a costume, not a disguise, take a look at the clown costume in Octopussy. The important thing here, is knowing that if you’re going to try something outlandish, be sure you fit in with your surroundings.
Want a costume, not a disguise? Think about being a Commie Mummy. Click here for an article that will give you ideas.
Don’t care much about disguises or costumes. More interested in Cold War politics? Celebrate the season by reading an article on Witch Hunts here.
Just for fun, think about coming up with your own disguise. You can post a photo in the comments.
