In the late Thirties, Dalí designed clothes, accessories, and jewelry in collaboration with the couturier Elsa Schiaparelli. Fashion was a particular interest of his for many years - he designed The Woman of the Future costumes in 1953 - and recognized a link between high fashion and the art scene; it was a link that was greatly augmented by his work. The Surrealists criticized Dalí's fashion work as demeaning to their art.
    Masked Mermaid in Black is a design Dalí made for a pavilion at the World Fair in New York in 1939. James Edward, his patron for much of the Thirties, was the co-sponsor of the event. The other sponsor was a rubber manufacturer from Pittsburgh, who produced the costume of the Masked Mermaid in rubber. Dalí has proved himself to be prescient, both with his use of rubber for clothing and the clinging, revealing shape; a look that has subsequently been used by many fetish clothing companies.
    The pavilion at the fair was called The Dream of Venus; in it mermaids wearing costumes made to the designed of the Masked Mermaid were placed under water in a tank, performing surrealist tasks such as typing on a rubber typewriter or playing a "soft" piano.