Wendy Watt

Beginning with a traditional fashion course and an apprenticeship in fashion and theatre, I started producing authentic reproductions for costume dramas in the film industry. I opened a hat shop on Portobello Road, London, selling to Fenwicks, The Hat Shop and internationally. Family life brought me to the North Norfolk coast, and inspired my textile artwork in tapestry, pictures and screens. The layered horizons of the marshes appear repeatedly in my work, providing an ever-changing pallet of vibrant colours. Fabric, thread and colour are a passion and I incorporate stitchwork, manipulating and stretching the warp and weft of richly coloured fabrics, wool and thread. The dancing reeds, birds singing, waves crashing and the wind curving round me are the tapestry of my daily life. (photo right: Wendy Watt with Diana Athill wearing her Wendy Watt velvet cloche at Bluejacket’s 3rd birthday party, 2013.)

“A colourful hat made by Wendy Watt is a joy forever. Wherever I am in the world, few let me pass in the street without praise.” Peregrine Worsthorne

“Happiness is to have a Wendy Watt hat on your head; knowing that you are at your most beautiful best.” Lucinda Lambton

Examples of Wendy’s Work