Birgit Hutter was born in Vienna and studied painting at the University of Applied Arts in her hometown and at the Art Students League in New York City. She received her diploma in the class for stage design and costume at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. She also completed a degree in theater studies. She worked as an assistant to Vivienne Westwood and Marc Bohan and taught at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. For many years she has been one of the most renowned costume designers for film, television and theater. Among the directors she has worked with are Xaver Schwarzenberger, Christoph Stark, Philipp Stölzl, Xavier Koller, Michael Verhoeven, Raúl Ruiz, Urs Egger, Luc Bondy, Peter Patzak, Oliver Hirschbiegl, Roger Spottiswood, Axel Corti, Jürgen Flimm, George Tabori, Mike Figgis and Carlos Saura. She has created sets and costumes for works ranging from Shakespeare to Turrini at virtually all of Austria's major theaters, including the Staatoper, Burgtheater, Volksoper, Theater in der Josefstadt and Volkstheater. Further engagements have taken her to the Schiller Theater in Berlin, the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, the Munich Kammerspiele, the Salzburg Festival, the Reichenau Festival and the Teatro La Fenice. In 1988 she was honored with the Federal Film Award for the costumes for "Das weite Land," in 1994 she received the "Golden Squad" award for the costumes for "Der Salzbaron," followed in 2008 by a nomination for the German Television Award for "Das jüngste Gericht" and in 2015 by a nomination from the Costume Designers Guild for the Emmy award-winning miniseries "Houdini." Most recently, she has worked extensively for Theater in der Josefstadt, such as in 2019/20 with EINEN JUX WILL ER SICH MACHEN, 2020/21 with GEHEIMNIS EINER UNBEKANNTEN and DER BOCKERER, and 2022/23 with DER WALD. She has been an honorary member of the Josefstadt since 2022.