This costume has been mounted on a mannequin for preservation purposes as the black latex material is prone to decomposition. Sections of the costume have been restored where the suit originally had tears to allow Catwoman's flesh to show through.

In the story of Batman, the character of Selina Kyle, a downtrodden executive assistant, pieces together her catsuit out of a black vinyl raincoat after being thrown out a window by her boss, Max Shreck [Christopher Walken]. Apparently, for filming purposes, a body mould was made of Michelle Pfeiffer which was then divided into sections. Each part was repeatedly dipped in liquid neoprene until a thin layer was built up. The parts were then joined together to make a full suit, sprayed with silicone and polished to give a gleaming, mirror-like finish. Due to the fragility of the latex of these bodysuits, it seems that a large number of the costumes had to be made for filming. Sprayed with silicone and then buffed to a mirrorlike finish Catwoman's gleaming second skin made a striking contrast to Batman's dull black latex.

During an interview on Late Night With David Letterman, 14 December, 2001, Michelle Pfeiffer recalled the constraints imposed by her skin-tight costume: You try running around in a latex catsuit all day. You sweat like a pig, even on the refrigerated sets we had. It took two hours to get into the thing and you had to stay in it all day! Not to mention problems with tears and chafing. We had to have someone on the set at all times to repair holes or rips in our suits...