Vanessa Rust grew up in Hamburg, where she completed her studies in fashion and textile management at Akademie JAK in 2013. From 2014 to 2017, she was costume assistant at Schauspiel Dortmund, where she realized her first own costume designs. As a freelance costume designer, she has worked among others at Residenztheater München, Schauspielhaus Bochum, Volkstheater Wien, Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg, Schaubühne and Deutsches Theater Berlin, Staatsoperette Dresden, Theater an der Wien, Schauspiel Frankfurt, Schauspiel Leipzig, and Staatsoper Hannover. She has collaborated with directors including Claudia Bauer, Bastian Reiber, Jan Friedrich, Nora Schlocker, and Ilaria Lanzino. In a leading role she also developed a project of her own at Schauspielhaus Magdeburg, for which she designed both set and costumes. Two productions featuring her costume designs have already been invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen (directed by Claudia Bauer). In 2019, Theater heute named Vanessa Rust Costume Designer of the Year for her work on “Tartuffe oder Das Schwein der Weisen” at Theater Basel.
