Louise Ann Harding

Cover girl. Runway model. Jetsetter. Fashion stylist. Interior designer. While most mere mortals would be thrilled with any of those epithets, for Louise de Teliga Harding it’s  just the start of a list that also includes artist, author, costume designer, film producer, loyal friend, life of the party and soul mate.

 

Louise passed away on April 15 in the arms of that soul mate and partner of nearly 25 years, CB Harding, after an 18-month battle with glioblastoma.

 

A native Australian who grew up in Tasmania and Sydney, Louise seemed to come by her myriad creative talents genetically. Her father, Stan de Teliga, a renowned painter, sculptor, a museum director and teacher, was a driving force in the Australian art scene from the 1960s through the 1980s. And Mark de Teliga says growing up in that creative milieu was clearly impactful on his younger sister.

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“Our dad spent most of his time in the studio, painting and creating, and Louise loved that whole world. She clearly adopted an artistic sensibility.”

 

The first outlet for all of that creative energy came in front of the camera as a top model while she was in her mid teens.

 

“A boyfriend snapped some pictures of her, and before you knew it she was on the cover of every major magazine in Australia,” recalls her friend of more than half a century, Effie Young. “Then she was off to the U.K., where she was a sensation again.”

 

After London it was on to Paris. “I first met Louise at the Paris apartment she shared with other models and a photographer,” says Clare de la Poer Beresford, a fellow model who became a close friend over the next several decades. “That apartment, and everywhere else she lived, was always a meeting place for the most eclectic collection of people one could imagine–artists, musicians, actors, writers, stylists. She was a magnet, always drawing interesting people into her orbit.”

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With two continents conquered, Louise set her sights on North America, modeling in New York before re-inventing herself as an in-demand fashion stylist there and later in Los Angeles. She worked with hot fashion labels of the day such as French Connection and Esprit, and styled fashion icons that included Rod Stewart and Mick Jagger.

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Others might be star-struck, but her brother remembers Louise taking it all in stride, whether it was getting stranded on a deserted isle with Elton John or hanging with one of  the Fab Four.

 

“I was a huge Beatles fan, and one time when she was living in London I teased Louise about not having met them. She replied,’what do you mean? I just caught a ride with George (Harrison) the other day from his country house into town,’” Mark says.

 

While she seemed to make all the right moves with her career, the same could not be said for her love life. “Before meeting CB, Louise had a string of partners who could only be called unusual,” remembers actress and model Camilla More, another lifelong friend since the Paris modeling days. Most memorable, she says, were a billionaire with a major cocaine problem and an art deco shop owner who, years after their break up, was discovered to be the Yankee Bandit, the most prolific bank robber in the history of Los Angeles.

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That all changed in the early 2000s, when Louise met CB in the then-nascent world of online dating. “We immediately discovered we knew all the same people; we clicked instantly,” says CB, who was then working as a director for television and film. He remembers falling hard and fast for Louise. “She was more than the love of my life; our spirits were connected in a previous incarnation.”

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It was during their dating years that Louise added another accomplishment to her impressive resume, writing a thinly veiled autobiographical novel about her modeling days, Fashion Slaves. The couple made homes together in West Hollywood, Sherman Oaks and Studio City, which continued to act as salons for a colorful and growing collection of cherished friends. And fitting Louise’s peripatetic nature, their 2008 wedding was an international affair, with ceremonies in Puerto Vallarta and Portland, Oregon.

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The unique bond the couple shared was not lost on loved ones. “It was a magical connection between them; they were both so openly grateful for finding each other, and they had such complementary skills and talents,” observes Ms. More.

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Those complementary skills came into play as they worked together on Complicity, an independent feature film written and directed by CB, with Louise serving as producer and costume designer. And it was essential as they worked together in Louise’s final career, where she served as interior designer while CB acted as general contractor in a successful home renovation business the couple launched in the Palm Springs area.

 

It was there that the globetrotting Louise settled into her final home, the Marrakesh Country Club community of Palm Desert. And CB says the couple will always be grateful for the love they received from neighbors there in her final days. 

 

“From the day of her diagnosis, we were overwhelmed by the expressions of care and support,” he says.  “It was beyond anything we could ever hope for.”