"My mother has been a hairdresser for my entire life. When I was a kid, I spent my time hanging out in hair salons, idolizing the beautiful women who always looked pristine and cutting edge, playing with peoples hair and transforming them right before my eyes. While I moved through the world with my mother, I listened as she wispered in my ear things like “wouldn’t bangs bring out that woman’s eyes?” and “she would make an amazing red head!”. I learned quickly that the world only needed a little color and shape to make it a more appealing place.

Throughout my childhood and teen years, I maintained a constant attraction to art and self expression in all forms. Aside from my mother, the woman I most admired was Madonna, who was constantly changing her appearance and setting trends that everyone struggled to keep up with. In second grade, I was wearing big lace bows in my hair, ripped up jeans with hot pink tights peeking through, and trying out for the talent contest with the song Lucky Star. By the time high school hit, I was in the most obscene attire I could come up with and changed my hair at least once a month to try out something new. It wasn’t always a success but it was always interesting.

I attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and glided through the Interior Architecture program enjoying the freedom to create space that was conceptual and sculptural in an environment that supported matching your attire to your project for the presentation. I worked in the Merchandise Mart as an unpaid fabric girl in a traditional showroom, Kirk Brummel, with a shaved head and a suit.

After I was hired on as an intern for a dominant architecture firm, DeStefano + Partners, I transferred out of the art world and started to attend Harrington Institute of Interior Design, a serious interior design school with classic Van Der Roe values. Combining this influence with my artistic background proved a great combination of styles and ways of approaching design projects. By the time I was ending my 5 years of college, I was employed by Thomas Shoner and Associates, an up and coming design firm. It was just the two of us working away on projects that seemed bigger than we could handle at times. We completed Giant Step in NY and Transit Nightclub in Chicago to name a few.

I moved home to Indiana for a stint and helped a small lighting and flooring business, Signature Designs, develop and interior design department and open a second location catering to residential clients. When I moved to the east coast, I sold furniture for a european company Bo Concept and eventually was given a showroom to manage on Long Island. After moving to Virginia Beach, I decided just to work on my own as B. Frances Design and completed projects in the area such as Kan Pai Sushi and Virginia Garden among many small residential projects.

After giving birth to my daughter, I decided it was time to pursue my dreams of doing hair. It seemed an appropriate to go back to school as an adult and learn the proper way of cosmetology. It was as thrilling as I imagined it would be. I attended Ron Paul University of Hair and Nails. Initially, it was much more difficult than I assumed. As soon as I became acquainted with a few basics, it was just a matter of shapes, lines, texture and color; all of which I have been using to create with for years now on a much larger scale.

To me, there is not much that is more energizing that having my hands in someone’s hair and really figuring out how to bring out their beauty. Its amazing to me how a simple change can completely transform someone and the new found confidence on their face is more than I could ask for. I can easily relate the scale of a room and the flow of the walls and furniture to the scale of a head and the angles of a haircut. Drawing a line of color on a wall to create drama is the same for me as adding a bold highlight through a client’s hair.

I am equally passionate about both mediums as a means to achieve visual correctness and interest. I can only ask that my clients share their desires for self-expression with me and trust that I will get to know them well enough to help them achieve a look for their home, business, or self that will let the world know who they are along with a little something extra that makes them stand apart from the crowd."

Briana Frances McGowan-Cece

Degreed and licenced Interior Designer and Cosmetologist in Virginia Beach