This is one of several top hats made by milliner Sean Barrett for actors playing and understudying Willy Wonka during the run of the musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Directed by Sam Mendes with costume and set designs by Mark Thompson, the musical was based on Roald Dahl's children's book published in 1964. Douglas Hodge played Wonka originally, with Alex Jennings replacing him on 19th May 2014. Richard Dempsey joined the cast at the same date playing Mr. Bucket and understudying Alex Jennings. Chris Grahamson joined the cast on 25th April 1916, replacing Dempsey as Mr. Bucket and understudying Wonka.

Mark Thompson's design for Wonka was based on Roald Dahl's description of him in Chapter 14 of his book: 'He had a black top hat on his head. He wore a tail-coat made of beautiful plum-coloured velvet. His trousers were bottle green. His gloves were pearly grey. And in one hand he carried a fine gold-topped cane'. To this description Thompson added a red and white spotted shirt, an orange waistcoat, a blue striped tie, and grey spats with individually coloured buttons. This colourful and quirky outfit emphasised Wonka's eccentric character and made his appearance the centre of attention. Mark Thompson won the Olivier Award for the Best Costume Designs for this production in 2014, and his designs were used for the Broadway production that opened at New York's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on 28th March 2017.

The hat was modelled in buckram on a milliner's block, extended and waisted to get the exaggerated shape needed for the design. Unlike traditional top hats that were covered in a silk plush hood to avoid a seam, this was covered in panné velvet, and seamed. It was trimmed with a purple petersham ribbon. Since Charlie Bucket has a miniature Wonka costume at the end of the musical, Sean Barrett also made several miniature versions of this top hat.