Thùy was born and raised in the commune of Thiền Lâm, Tĩnh Gia District, Thanh Hóa Province, Vietnam.[3] When she was young, she used to sell rice cakes on coach buses to assist her family. Despite financial struggles, her family continued to supported her education.[4] Thùy graduated from Tĩnh Gia 1 High School in 2010.[5] She majored in industrial design at Hanoi Architectural University before participating in the second season of Vietnam's Next Top Model and pursued modelling afterwards.[6] In 2016 she studied fashion design at Central Saint Martins in London.[7]
She joined Top Model of the World 2012 in Berlin, Germany where she reached the top 15, and also won the Best Catwalk Award.[3] In February 2014, she went to London fashion week's casting calls without an agency. With no personal contacts, she sent her portfolio by email to all the designers participating in Autumn/Winter 2014 London Fashion Week via any channels she could find. She first heard back from Jean Pierre Braganza and proceeded to successfully book 4 shows that season, which was a turning point in her international career.[9] Since then, she has walked the runways of New York Fashion Week, London Fashion Week and Vietnam International Fashion Week.[10][11] Thanks to her outstanding achievements, Hoàng Thùy was named in Forbes Vietnam's 30 Under 30 list in early 2015.[12] She signed with PRM Models in London in 2015 and landed a fashion spread on Elle as well as Grazia shortly after, becoming the first Vietnamese model to do so.[11] The same year, Thùy made an appearance on BBC One's The Clothes Show and was the only Asian model in that edition's cast.
In 2017, she became a coach for season 2 of The Face Vietnam.[13] Throughout the show, general viewers called Thùy "the master of proverbs" due to her tendency to use Vietnamese proverbs in her confessions.[14]
Miss Universe Vietnam 2017
Thùy entered Miss Universe Vietnam 2017, and was first runner-up. She also won the People's Choice Award.[15] The top three of the competition were all Vietnam's Next Top Model participants.[15] Due to the biennial hosting of Miss Universe Vietnam, the next edition was held in 2019. Thus, Hoàng Thùy has a chance to represent Vietnam at Miss Universe 2019 if the pageant is held sooner than the country's selection that year.[16]
Miss Universe 2019
On 6 May 2019, Thùy was officially appointed to be Vietnam's representative at Miss Universe 2019 after she placed 1st runner up in Miss Universe Vietnam 2017. Thùy competed in Miss Universe 2019 and placed in the Top 20 as she was one of the five most outstanding candidates from Africa and Asia Pacific.[17]
