Vanessa Rust grew up in Hamburg, graduating from the JAK Academy in 2013 with a specialisation in fashion and textile management. From 2014 to 2017, she worked as a costume assistant at the Theatre Dortmund. She then created her first independent works for Sputnic’s live animation performances and for directors Gordon Kämmerer and Jan Friedrich.

She has created costume designs for the Theater an der Wien and the Volkstheater Wien (directors: Jan Friedrich and Kai Voges), the Schauspielhaus Bochum (director: Nora Schlocker) and the Magdeburg Opera House (director: Ilaria Linzanzo).

Vanessa Rust has worked closely with director Claudia Bauer, designing costumes for her productions at several theatres and opera houses. In 2019 and 2020, two of their joint productions were invited to the Theatertreffen in Berlin: »Tartuffe oder Das Schwein der Weisen« (Theater Basel) and »Süßer Vogel Jugend« (Schauspiel Leipzig). For »Tartuffe«, Vanessa Rust received the 2019 award for best costume design from the specialist journal »Theater heute«.