Photo courtesy of BW Designs
Audio By Carbonatix
Some women dream of wearing beautiful dresses, but Denver fashion designer Beatriz Warger dreamed of blazers, telling her parents at the young age of ten that this was what she wanted to wear.
But growing up in São Paulo, Brazil, her aspirational style had its challenges. “Though it’s a big city with a beautiful, kind of New York style in the corporate area, I remember going to stores, and I didn’t like anything I saw. I want to make my own,” she recalls.
As a lifelong Chanel fan, the French brand founded by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, known for timeless tweed cardigan jackets, tailored skirts and luxury details, Warger drew on that inspiration and her own keen eye for garments that are both elegant and comfortable. “I’m always looking at blazers and saying, well, this is nice, but it would be better if we did this or that.”
Photo courtesy of BW Designs
So, she started making and compiling fashion sketches that reflected the styles she wanted to see. But fashion was not what Warger set out to do as a career; instead, she moved to the U.S. to study computer engineering in Kansas City. After working in tech for five years, establishing her U.S. citizenship, and relocating to Denver with her fashion sketchbooks piling up in her spare time, the now 29-year-old Warger says it was encouragement from a loved one that prompted her to take the leap to quit her job and start her own fashion brand. She turned back to her roots in Brazil to make it happen.
“São Paulo is a major textile hub with wonderful mini ateliers with tailors that can produce clothing,” she says. “I found the tiniest shop, literally one lady and four employees who are so talented. I’ve been able to show them my sketches, and they made patterns for them to create them.”
She says her pieces come to life through the fabric, which is also abundantly available in São Paulo. “I’m obsessed with fabrics,” she admits. “My creative process involves looking through hundreds of fabrics. I hold a piece of fabric and feel it. I let it talk to me. I spend a lot of time with it, see it in daylight, or how it behaves, and actually test it. I let the fabric choose what specific garment it wants to be.”
She says her favorite fabric is tweed, citing the uniqueness of the thread color blends and the variety of weights for different seasons. It’s featured heavily in her brand, BW Designs, which officially launched in December of 2025. Her looks embody what people may think of as classic Parisian chic, with clean lines, structured tailoring, and pearl and rhinestone buttons, including sophisticated jacket-and-skirt sets, polished sheath dresses, and a double-breasted blazer dress with a feminine ruffle collar and cuffs.
Now, as she prepares to debut her collection at Denver Fashion Week’s May 2 Society Night, she recalls how taking her vision from sketches and fabric choices to a real-life garment proved harder than she imagined. “All of my clothing comes from my sketches. The women at my atelier helped make them into actual clothes,” she says. “Most of my garments needed like ten patterns in order to get to the one that I actually wanted. In a sketch, it may look good, but as we started to bring them into reality, we needed to change things. So it was a whole process.”
Though Warger isn’t skilled in sewing, she says her background in computer engineering gives her attention to detail that comes in handy in making designs work for clothing. One detail she prides herself on is the lining. “So many garments can be beautiful on the outside, but on the inside, they’re so uncomfortable,” she says. “I have very sensitive skin, so that’s always been difficult for me. My idea is that the lining should feel like you’re wearing your sleepwear, like silk.”
Photo courtesy of BW Designs
Another detail is that all her clothes have functional pockets, which she says surprises people. “I’ve had so many people reaching out to me about that, saying, ‘I never buy blazers because all of them have fake pockets and I don’t have anywhere to put things I need.’ Mine have real pockets.”
Her strong vision carries over into her packaging, which features a boldly elegant black-and-white color palette and logo. She took great care in designing the boxes, with a reusable bow and a magnetic closure. Some designs come with a custom-created dust bag that clips shut. She says she wants the packaging to feel like something people will be excited to receive. “I really think that getting a garment should feel special, because it is a long-term investment,” she says. “It’s very important that someone has the best experience.”
Warger will debut her collection at Denver Fashion Week, featuring spring colors and new styles. She says her formal looks will fit right into Society Night, and she hopes her show will inspire people to dress in more polished attire. “My five-year goal is to share my designs and bring elegance back,” Warger says. “I was looking at photos of people in the 1940s and feeling so nostalgic that I started crying. I wish people dressed like that now!”
Most importantly, Warger wants her garments to make people feel special. “You don’t need much for elegance. One of the main inspirations for my brand is how what we wear changes not only how people see us, but how we feel. It’s empowerment,” she says. “People think that there aren’t occasions to dress elegantly. But I feel like you don’t need an occasion. Life is the occasion.”
Denver Fashion Week is Friday, May 1, through Saturday, May 9, at Furniture Row Showroom, 5445 Bannock Street. Get tickets for the May 2 Society show here and learn more about BW Designs here.
