An Ice Suit

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
She isn't cold in that, she is cold in that.

When a character is An Ice Person, has An Ice Gun, or uses other means to Kill It with Ice, he tends to go one of two ways when it comes to costuming, wearing either a properly warm arctic suit (in a lovely blue/black/white color scheme), or a... bathing suit?

Why the Fashionable Asymmetry? Well, getting decked out for cold weather makes sense when the cold wielding character is still a warm blooded person, so it provides insurance against being Hoist by His Own Petard. However, if they happen to be an Elemental Embodiment of Ice/Cold, then there's no need for protection from the elements, so they can cavort around in summer beach wear during a cold spell. Interestingly, just because he or she doesn't need to wear cold protection gear doesn't mean they won't indulge in an excuse to be Pretty in Mink!

Special mention goes to characters who wear heat proofing gear to avoid overheating or being melted by Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors savvy foes.

Compare Stylish Protection Gear, Winter Royal Lady, "Happy Holidays" Dress, Sexy Santa Dress, Fur Bikini.

Examples of An Ice Suit include:

Anime and Manga


Comic Books

  • Mr. Freeze in just about any Batman continuity wears an environment protection suit to protect himself from... mild warmth. Due to an accident he can't exist in temperatures above freezing, so the only time he's ever out of his suit is if the area is solidly frozen. The suit also has a practical function of augmenting Freeze's strength and durability, making him a physical match for Batman.
    • The irony is played up in the animated movie Sub-Zero, where he wears summer gear and swims in simple trunks at his lair in the Arctic.
  • Polar Boy of the Legion of Super-Heroes goes for the "warm clothing" variant, but there's a twist in the reason why - his people developed their cold powers because their home planet is so hot. So the temperate climate of an Earthlike world is highly uncomfortable to him.
  • DC Comics superheroine Ice actually pinballs between both ends of this trope, but usually leans closer to the first description; she's mainly seen in a snug bodysuit that completely covers her skin, but it has been cut in a variety of ways.
    • Killer Frost's costume, which is basically a fur-trimmed swimsuit. This is justified by her powers—she absorbs heat and turns it into cold. The version of her in the page picture from Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, as well as Justice League, uses a bikini and a one-piece, respectively.
  • Flash foe Captain Cold wears a blue and white set of arctic gear, which is pretty helpful since he's a normal human whose shtick is to use a Freeze Ray.
  • Iceman of the X-Men! Technically he's wearing clothes under his ice-body, but when he's iced up he looks like he's pretty much in the buff.
    • In the old days, he wasn't. Getting his ice coating broken or melted left him in his boxers. He doesn't get a proper costume until well into his stint with the Champions. As is common for X-characters suffering Clothing Damage, he doesn't get too embarrassed by it.


Literature

  • Jadis in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe demonstrates quite a love for winter finery, but is herself the cause of all the cold and dresses that way only as part of her Requisite Royal Regalia. The movie even has her ice-crown slowly melt after the Pevensies return.
  • Inversion with Melissandre of A Song of Ice and Fire. As a priestess of the Fire-and-Light god Rholler she always wears the same revealing open dress everywhere. This includes the top of a 700 foot (215 meter) ice wall. In her own words "I am never cold".
  • Doc Savage and his trusty men are able to walk briskly across Antarctica in "The South Pole Terror" just by covering their skin with a substance developed by their genius leader.


Video Games

  • Recurring summon Shiva from the Final Fantasy series has a very regal aura, but rarely wears more than what's necessarily to retain her modesty.
  • Nuclear Winter and his female minions from Freedom Force dress in stylish warm clothing.
  • Genki Girl Kula Diamond from The King of Fighters wears a leather bodysuit as combat attire.
  • The Ice Climbers are a pair of Eskimo children wearing parkas. You may best remember them from Super Smash Bros..
  • Ice Man from the Mega Man games can generate ice and is dressed in a blue and white Arctic gear. It would be justified since his original job was Arctic investigation — except that he's a robot and thus shouldn't need protective clothing.
    • Frost damage can still damage machinery, especially if it uses any sort of liquid for cooling (when it's not in arctic weather), hydraulic pressure system for movement, or water tank for it to manipulate ice.
  • In Mortal Kombat, Sub-Zero and his student Frost wear leather ninja gear that tends to expose quite a bit of flesh. Of course, being ice manipulators, they don't ever get cold.
  • There are two ice associated characters in Touhou. Cirno only ever wears a light dress, but Letty Whiterock is probably the most heavily dressed character in the series. Somewhat odd, since she's the embodiment of winter.
    • No, she is a Yuki-Onna, a creature of Japanese folklore which is basically a snow siren. Yuki-Onna pretend to be women lost in storms to prey on men.


Western Animation