The owner of Emanuel Ungaro was recently in talks to sell the flailing fashion label to Italian luxury tycoon Matteo Marzotto, The Post has learned.
Asim Abdullah — a San Francisco-based software developer who bought Ungaro in 2005 despite knowing little about the industry — met with baby-faced fashion mogul Marzotto in recent weeks in a bid to unload a 75-percent stake in the label, according to sources close to the situation.
Marzotto — a former chairman of Valentino, who caused a ruckus last year when he claimed, and then denied, that feisty supermodel Naomi Campbell hit him while they were dating — couldn’t be reached for comment. Abdullah likewise didn’t respond to requests for comment.
But in an interview with Women’s Wear Daily last week, Abdullah denied The Post’s March 25 report that Ungaro was for sale following last fall’s disastrous hire of Lindsay Lohan as artistic adviser.
“We are not entertaining any conversations with anyone about the sale of the company,” Abdullah was quoted as saying.
Nevertheless, sources say Abdullah will entertain any option to bail himself out of the mess. As first reported by The Post, Abdullah has been slashing costs, recently closing the company’s Madison Avenue boutique and moving it to the basement of the Plaza Hotel.
Sources said Abdullah also has been looking to lure back designer Giambattista Valli, who left the label in 2005 before Abdullah bought it. But rehabilitating Ungaro will be a tough assignment for any designer in the wake of Lohan’s scandalous stint.
An October runway show, in which models were outfitted with nipple pasties and microskirts that revealed the models’ bare buttocks, drew howls of disgust from critics and helped spur the December resignation of CEO Mounir Moufarrige.
Lohan announced earlier this month that she had severed ties with Ungaro, and Abdullah has reportedly tried to nickel-and-dime her, paying Lohan with clothes instead of cash.
Nevertheless, sources said Abdullah is still on the hook for a three-year contract signed last year, which will force him to pay Lohan $1.5 million a year.
The punishing contract is a lingering reminder of a string of headaches for Abdullah caused by Lohan. Last September, sources said Lohan trashed the Bowery Hotel following a spat with former girlfriend Samantha Ronson.
While media reports at the time said Lohan hurled a room-service tray against the door of another guest, she also caused $12,000 in damages, including a smashed TV set, that Abdullah was forced to pay for, according to one source.
Abdullah “had to go down the next morning with his credit card,” the source said.
Spokeswomen for the Lohan and the Bowery Hotel didn’t respond to requests for comment.
If Abdullah is still looking to unload Ungaro, sources say he’s got even bigger problems than Lohan. One key stumbling block: the rights to Ungaro’s fragrance business — typically the most profitable portion of any fashion label — are still owned by luxury conglomerate Salvatore Ferragamo. james.covert@nypost.com