The Girl With the Smell of Gasoline

Aliyyah Koloc, a 19-year-old professional race driver, was born in Dubai and raised by a Czech father and a mother from Seychelles. She grew up with motorsports as her father, Martin Koloc, was a well-known racing driver in the 90s and a two-time European Truck Racing Champion.

After a successful tennis career, Aliyyah switched to motorsports only four years ago due to an injury. Sports has always been her thing, fashion never.

Hana Barbora is Prague’s renowned Czech fashion and floral designer and lifestyle stylist. She found Aliyyah Koloc on social media and started to follow her. She was fascinated by a young woman who seemed to effortlessly move in a man’s world, hiding her femininity in overalls and a helmet.

“Fashion Is Not My Thing”

Still, today, Aliyyah finds herself in a line of beautiful clothes designed by Hana Barbora that resemble her personality: easy-going, uncomplicated, sophisticated, and elegant.

“I never thought I would develop my clothing line because fashion isn’t my thing. I prefer to wear comfortable clothes. I practically live in jumpsuits and fitness clothes unless I am in a racing overall,” Aliyyah says about her fashion style.

Aliyyah’s Design Process

Via social media, Aliyyah and Hana started to talk and exchange ideas, and eventually, Aliyyah became curious and started to develop some ideas of her own that she shared with the designer. First, it was all about comfortable clothes, as is her style.

However, Hana turned her ideas into something more sophisticated yet easy-going, using mainly noble materials like satin, silk, and cotton.

“It was fun developing my ideas and then seeing what the designer came back with,” Aliyyah explains. “I then decided what I liked. They produced some samples, and then shortly after, I held a shirt with my logo in my hands. That was a cool feeling!”

The Designer’s Process

“When I developed Aliyyah’s clothing line, I wanted to show her beauty differently and reveal the femininity I saw in her. I wanted to show her from a different angle away from racing. For me, she was ‘the girl with a smell of gasoline’.

After studying her personality via social media, articles, photos, and talking to her, I immediately gathered her genuine disposition and developed the designs and style, choosing the colours she would feel good,” Hana explains about her design process.

A Fashion Statement for Every Woman

A couple of months later, Aliyyah and Hana met for the first time. There is now a range for women of sporty-elegant T-shirts, shirts, hoodies, caps, and even crucial chains – one of Aliyyah’s favourite items – with her distinctive 29 logo.

Racing is primarily a male sport, and while at a race track or offroad rallying, Aliyyah doesn’t have time or any particular interest in caring about how she looks. Still, having developed her fashion statement changed something for her.

“I realized that I needed something different for occasions away from racing. And as I am not very stylish, I had difficulty finding clothes for awards or galas, for example. But now I have something subtle and comfortable, yet elegant,” Aliyyah says. ‘It makes such a difference wearing something I feel great in which – outside of racing – has been a challenge. Wearing my clothes now, I feel self-confident and at ease, but also a little proud and beautiful. These are mostly new feelings for me. I wish that every woman is able at some point to create her fashion statement so that she feels good about herself too.”

There is no immediate intention to market Aliyyah’s clothing line. The items will initially only be worn by herself and a close circle of family and friends. “It would be great if other women like what I have created. If that is the case, I could imagine marketing my clothes to every woman who thinks fashion isn’t her thing.